


Kingdom Hearts Route B

by RoyalBlueScribe



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts (Video Games), Square Enix
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Bad Puns, Childhood Friends, F/M, Fantasy, Fate & Destiny, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Hope, Multiple Crossovers, Mystery, Post-Kingdom Hearts I, Rewrite, Strong Female Characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 71,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28689033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoyalBlueScribe/pseuds/RoyalBlueScribe
Summary: What if the Kingdom Hearts series stayed simple? What if there were no in between games, just KH1, KH2 and KH3? What if the story telling and tone of the first game stayed with the series? This is a re-imagining of what the series might have been like if Kingdom Hearts 2 and 3 had followed the story telling style of the first game. Takes please after KH1.
Relationships: Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Prologue

_**Author's Notes:** _

I love Kingdom Hearts and the entirety of the series, even though it can get silly at times. Yet, even now, I still wonder what the series would be like if they kept it simple and clean (get it?) and stayed with the original KH1's tone and story telling.

**_For the sake of this rewrite, I put in some rules:_ **

1.) If a character did not appear in KH1, they will not be in this rewrite. This counts for only Kingdom Hearts original characters and not Final Fantasy or Disney Characters. This unfortunately means that I have to get rid of a lot of my favorite KH characters as well. There are only two exceptions for this rule.

2.) There are no in-between games in this rewrite. That means games like Chain Of Memories, Birth By Sleep and so on will not be included. The story will start at the end of Kingdom Hearts 1 and transition directly into Kingdom Hearts 2 and then into Kingdom Hearts 3. So spoilers for the end of KH1. You have been warned.

3.) There is no Xehanort, Xehanort's heartless, or Ansem the wise. The original Ansem, as he was known in KH1, the ruler of Hollow Bastion, is the only incarnation of the character in this story.

4.) To keep things simple, there are no nobodies, dream eaters, unversed, and so on. Only heartless.

I hope everyone enjoys my rewrite of the Kingdom Hearts series!

 **Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

**Kingdom Hearts Route B**

_**Prologue: The Gateway** _

_A new journey begins when one had just ended,_

_The old had left you feeling lost and disconnected._

_The long road ahead leads to the light locked within._

_Yet you flow along the endless world not knowing,_

_Of the great connections behind you gathering._

_The world is made of light and darkness,_

_Beware the lack of balance that will be your undoing._

* * *

The road before them stretched on and on, as endless as the dreams that came to Sora deep in the night. Colorful glass beneath his feet, stars vanishing from the sky above his home, laughter from the girl he had left behind, promises to his best friend he wished to keep, all these thoughts faded from his head the moment he woke up each morning.

Days after day, on the same dirt road, in the same rolling, green hills, he chased after Pluto, the king's dog, with Donald and Goofy hot on his heels. And each day the sun set and they vowed to try and catch the dog tomorrow, and finally get their hands on the king's letter, but Pluto loved being chased and ran faster each day. So Sora, Donald and Goofy ran farther and farther into the unknown plains together.

One morning, Sora woke as soon as the sunlight hit his face. With a yawn, he decided to go back to laying on the grass and sleep, but the moment he looked up into the sky, Donald and Goofy's faces appeared above him.

Yelping, Sora jumped up to his feet.

"G'morning Sora," Goofy waved.

"About time you woke up," Donald added.

His scratchy voice and the smug way he looked made Sora a little peeved. With a grin, Sora put his hands behind his head and said, "It's not my fault your snoring kept me up all night."

Donald quacked, stomped his foot, and clenched his fists. "I do not snore!"

"Hey fellers," Goofy interrupted, "shouldn't we be going after Pluto?"

Sora snapped his fingers. "Oh! Of course. Which way did he go?"

"I think he's further down the road."

"Then let's go!"

Again they set after Pluto, and when they got close enough, Pluto scooped up a letter in his mouth and began running. Goofy got close, tried to body slam Pluto to hold him down, but Pluto slipped out from under him with ease. Sora ran around and tried to catch Pluto off guard by blocking his path, but Pluto evaded his arms by slipping away between Sora's legs.

Donald, ever the smallest and the slowest, tried to grab Pluto's stringy, black tail as the dog ran by, but only got a handful of air. His feathers ruffling up into tiny spikes, Donald jumped up and waved his arms.

"Waaaah! Come back here, you dumb mutt! Give me the king's letter!"

Donald had done it now. With his head ducked, Pluto gave the trio one frightened look and dashed down the road, no longer playing.

"Donald!" Sora and Goofy complained together.

But Donald was already giving chase, running as fast as his temper could allow. Down the winding, dirt road they went, until the night caught up to them and they had to stop for yet another day.

Exhausted from all the running, Sora leaned forward on his hands and knees while his companions collapsed on the grass behind them. Pluto, just a few yards ahead, sticking his behind up playfully with his tail still wagging, had evaded them yet again.

Donald rolled over onto his belly and groaned. "We'll never catch him. What if we never find out what's in King Mickey's letter?"

"We've gotta get him," Sora said, "that letter could tell us how to find Riku and the king, and how to get home."

Goofy, catching his breath, stood. "Gee, Sora, you sure don't give up easy."

Sora grinned. "What's one dog when we just took down Ansem?"

"Yeah," Donald jumped up, "we'll get him."

One moment he was energized, the next he slumped forward on the grass. Fast asleep.

"Hey, Sora," Goofy said, "maybe we aught ta get some shuteye."

Sora stared at Donald, listening to his quacking snores and let out a good natured snort.

"Yeah, we'll try again tomorrow."

Goofy flopped backward onto the grass, resting his hands behind his head and putting one knee on top of the other. Sora watched his two friends for a moment and then checked on Pluto. Several feet away, he was curled up into a little ball with the letter still close by.

"Even if we did catch him," Sora said, "would we even be able to read the letter under all that slobber?"

He leaned forward in the most exaggerated sigh, letting his fingers dangle just inches above the grass.

A dark cloud flashed over him. Standing straight, Sora reached into the light that was in his heart and made his keyblade appear in his hand. His weapon clutched tight, he turned in a circle. His eyes searched for anything that moved, looking for shadows on the ground where they shouldn't be, or dark puffs of smoke in the air. But there was nothing.

Sora relaxed and let his keyblade fade from his hand. "Just my imagination."

Yet, he couldn't help but feel as though something were coming his way. Whispers from the dark caressed his ears, but he didn't understand them, and somewhere across the worlds, on a beach where children's laughter could be heard, a girl felt an ominous breeze and an intense fear for two of her lost friends.

* * *

Deep in a dark world, where laughter and hope couldn't reach, where hungry creatures wait to scratch and bite and tear the hearts of anyone who dared to wander, a single orb of light was able to pass through. Searching for something, the light moved through a twisted, carnivorous forest of thorns and rocks, without realizing that it had passed someone. A dark hooded person blended into the shadows, watching the light pass. Slowly the hooded figure moved to follow the light, but stopped.

It was not the time. Another light was on its way, an easier target. The figure faded into the surrounding darkness, and for a moment, the orb of light shook, as though it sensed something was near, watching. Then, like a bird taking flight, the orb vanished.

* * *

Sora woke up from a nightmare. In the seconds between complete waking and half sleep, he could almost hear the voice of another boy. The moon shined bright above, and for a single, illogical moment, spurred on by the remnants of his dreams and his hopes, Sora turned around.

"Riku?"

No answer.

Sora hung his head. Of course there wouldn't be an answer and now he was too awake to go back to sleep. So he wondered for a moment. Pluto, thinking it was time to be chased again, rose up but kept his distance. Sora ignored him, walking to a part of the road that split four ways. He stood at the center of the X and looked up at the moon, wondering if his friends were looking too.

"Riku?" Sora tried again.

There was no one.

Or was there?

Cold fear tingled on the back of Sora's neck and he turned around. A hooded figure floated above the ground down one of the roads.

There was no voice, but somehow, Sora understood the being's words.

"Along the road ahead is something you desire."

Sora chased after the hooded figure, ready to call his keyblade if he must, but the moment he reached it, the figure faded into nothing. Again, he felt eyes on his back, and Sora turned. The figure was pointing down one of the four paths.

"But will you plunge into darkness to reach it?"

Sora chased after the floating black cloak, and once again it vanished. Without a word, or without looking back, he walked down the path the figure had guided him toward.

Somewhere far away, a girl rose up from the shore of a beach and walked toward a dark cave next to a waterfall. And somewhere deep within the dark, a boy drifted in and out of sleep.

* * *

Sora walked down the path, Donald and Goofy behind him, and Pluto following nervously a few steps away. Something appeared in the distance. The closer they got to it, the more the grass beneath their feet faded, turning into an eery white road that was neither glass, nor dirt, nor ice, nor stone. The sky became dimmer, no longer the brilliant blue with the moon as its pendant.

A this-way-that-way castle stood before them. Towers were built out of the back and came out of the sides of the building. Brown bricks with glowing, yellow windows stood high over Sora, Donald and Goofy.

Pluto whined, and refused to go anywhere near the castle. He turned tail and ran back down the road they had come from, vanishing into the grey, misty sky.

Donald and Goofy moved to go after him, but Sora moved toward the castle doors.

Something about the castle stirred his heart, filling it with hope. His friends were inside, he just knew it. He imagined them entering the castle, and could almost see them waiting for him within.

He pushed the towering doors open and entered. He had expected a dark and gloomy dungeon, but instead the interior was completely white, and nearly empty. He walked into a grand ballroom decorated with only two white, marble decorative pillars in the giant space. There were no windows, only one white door across the room, opposite of the entrance.

"Sora! You can't just barge inside," Donald complained as he entered the hall.

From the back of Sora's hood, a cricket jumped out, landing gracefully on the floor.

"He's right Sora, it's rude to just barge in," the cricket said.

"Gosh Jiminy," said Goofy, peeking his head around the door, "I thought we all came in here because we thought the King could be here."

"Exactly!" Sora pointed at Goofy. "I just had a feeling that Riku would be in here too."

"So did I, but," Donald tapped his foot, "none of you think it's weird that we all have that feeling?"

Goofy smiled. "A-hyuck, I think it means we're on the right path, don't you?"

Donald, Jiminy and Sora all stared at him.

"Well, maybe our hearts are telling us something's in this castle," Goofy clarified.

"Huh," Sora tapped his temple with his index finger, "that guy in the black cloak did say that something we desire is here."

_But will you plunge into darkness to reach it?_

Donald crossed his wings and raised an eyebrow. "How do you know we can trust him?"

"Do you have a better idea? Let's just explore. I'm sure we'll find something. And, anyway, if we run across that guy again, we can handle him."

As Sora and the others moved toward the door, Jiminy reached into his pocket. Removing a journal, Jiminy pulled out his pen and was about to open the journal to a blank page, to continue chronicling Sora, Donald and Goofy's travels but then...

"Sora! Oh, this is terrible!"

Sora turned, but did not get the chance to ask what was wrong. The door they had entered through, had vanished. A blank, white wall had replaced the exit. The black figure from the plains floated in front of it.

Sora, Donald and Goofy rushed to protect Jiminy, keyblade, staff and shield in hand, ready to fight.

This time, when the hooded figure spoke, its voice was clear and smooth. "Somewhere, in this castle, is a doorway that lies in between light and dark. And yes indeed, your friends are here."

"Riku and the King are here? Where are they," Sora demanded.

"On the other side of the door."

Dark smoke appeared under the hooded man, and he melted down into the floor. Sora, Donald and Goofy jerked, staring at the empty space where it had been, but then laughter made them all turn. The man in the hood stood in front of the white door leading deeper into the castle.

"Be warned. Darkness waits beyond. That is the way in Castle Oblivion. Will you still go?"

Sora's fingers tightened around his weapon's handle. "Who are you?"

A dark cloud obscured the hooded man, and he was gone, leaving behind only a flurry of rose petals where he had been standing.

Goofy went back toward the wall, knocking on it, trying to find a hidden switch that would let them go back outside, but when he didn't find anything, Donald attacked it with fire magic next. The wall did not break or crumble. Donald and Goofy exchanged a nervous look and then faced Sora. The three friends stood staring at the petals in front of the door, each too afraid to utter a word.

Finally, Jiminy spoke. "Trusting him doesn't seem like the best decision."

Sora's keyblade faded, but his sense of courage did not. "Even if Riku and the King might not be in there. We don't have any other clues, and it's not like we can go back the way we came."

"I know. But that man worries me."

Goofy puffed out his chest. "Don't worry fellers, I'm sure we can take on anything that comes our way as long as we stick together."

Donald crossed his arms. "Yeah, we can do it. Isn't that right, Jiminy?"

The little cricket smiled despite himself. "Of course! You are are strong as long you are together." A worried expression replaced his reassuring one. "Still. Be careful."

He jumped back up onto Sora's hood. With a nod to each other, the three friends went to the door at the end of the hall and opened it. White light emanated outward from behind the door, and the three friends ventured into the unknown.

* * *

**_Jiminy's Journal_ **

Sora (First appeared in Kingdom Hearts, 2002): A cheerful boy that wields the keyblade. He's on a journey to find his friend Riku so that the two of them can go home together.

Donald (First appeared in the Wise Little Hen, 1934): Royal court Magician at Disney Castle. Donald's magic is as powerful as his temper.

Goofy (First appeared is Mickey's Revue, 1932): Head of the Guard at Disney Castle. Goofy is king and loyal and always ready to protect others with his powerful shield.

Jiminy Cricket (First appeared in Pinocchio, 1940): Yours truly. I am accompanying Sora, Donald and Goofy to keep track of their adventures, and maybe remind them to listen to their conscience.

Unknown Hooded Man: A figure that guided Sora, Donald and Goofy to Castle Oblivion. He's dark and mysterious. What could he want?


	2. Chapter 1: The Enchanted Bayou

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

**_Chapter 1: The Enchanted Bayou_ **

* * *

"Ew!" Donald pulled his webbed foot up from the green mush he had stepped into. "What is this stuff?"

Sora looked around. The dark silhouette of trees and vines surrounded them. Fireflies glittered above puddles of green water and crickets chirped into the moist air. The ground beneath them was wet with moss, and ferns. Above, there was no white ceiling, but rather, a sky with an evening star so bright, it made the millions of others around it look like mere electric lights.

"Looks like a swamp," Sora said. "How is this inside a castle?"

He looked behind them. The white door of Castle Oblivion, completely clean and glowing an eerie white, stood out of the swamp water. It was as out of place as a vegetable in a candy shop and it reminded Sora of another door, on an island where it shouldn't have been, a door that had thrown him out of his home so long ago.

Goofy spoke, bringing Sora back to the present.

"Uh, it is just me, or is the swamp movin' toward us?"

He was right, the swamp was moving, but it wasn't the water. Logs were slowly inching toward the three of them. Something yellow caught Sora's eye and he squinted hard onto the glowing dots on top of the logs.

Eyes.

The logs jumped.

"Look out!"

Sora pushed Donald and Goofy out of the way. The poor duck fell into the water, face first, his feet and tail sticking up from below the murky surface. Goofy fell on his behind while the log, crocodile, threw itself at Sora. Yelping, and with no time to get out the way, Sora summoned his keyblade and flung it at the side of the crocodile's face. The crocodile went down, sinking into the water and out of sight, but the second crocodile was on its way, creeping closer to Donald's tail.

Donald finally righted himself, shaking his head as he came out of the water. "What's the big idea?"

"Donald, look out!"

Too late. The crocodile, as well as its partner, had circled Donald, already snapping white teeth. They lunged. Donald squealed and jumped up ten feet, and just in time too. The two crocodiles crashed into each other, leaving an opening for Goofy and Sora to charge and smack them each on the head with shield and keyblade.

"Sora!"

Goofy threw out his hand, and Sora took it. He spun in a circle, looping Sora around like a windmill, allowing Sora to smack the crocodiles a whole three times before the two oversized lizards had had enough. They slithered away just as Donald had come down.

He landed on his feet, splashing the swamp water and panting. "Thanks."

"That was magnificent," a voice cried.

Still alert, the three friends raised their weapons, looking around for the owner of the voice.

"Be quiet Naveen! They could be dangerous."

"They just drove off those two crocodiles. We could use their help."

"But-"

Goofy, ever the nicest one, was the first to lower his weapon. "Is someone there?"

"Uh," the second voice, a prettier voice, blathered, "n-no one's here, just us swamp frogs."

"Swamp frogs?" Sora repeated.

Something moved in the darkness, and before Sora could react, it was on the tip of his keyblade. A frog stood up on on two legs, his perfectly white teeth glinting as he stretched his lips into a debonair smile.

"Pleased to meet you, friends. I am Prince Naveen," the frog winked.

Donald yelped. "Talking frog!"

He slapped the frog away and it slammed flat against Goofy's shield. Flipping the shield so that it was right side up, Goody stared at the poor smushed frog.

"Of Maldonia," the frog groaned.

Something else jumped on Goofy's shield. A smaller, prettier frog pointed a very sharp stick at Donald.

"You'd best stop hurting my friend if you know what's good for you," she hissed at Donald.

The glare she gave him was so fierce, it would have made even the most misbehaved child go running and Donald, shaking, had to bow his head.

"I-I'm sorry."

Ignoring him, the frog bent to pick up her friend.

"Naveen, are you all right?"

Naveen shook his head and jumped back on his feet. "These guys are strong, no?"

"I suppose."

"Come now. We need help, yes? Besides, what can we do as frogs?"

Whatever he said must have convinced the smaller frog. She sighed and stood on her two feet as well. "My name's Tiana, this is Naveen."

"Pleased to meet ya. I'm Goofy."

Sora and Donald introduced themselves as well. Jiminy decided now was the time to hop out of Sora's hood. He landed on Goofy's shield and bowed to Naveen and Tiana.

"What brings you here then, Highness, Ms. Tiana?"

Naveen shrugged with a guilty grin on his face.

"Oh no, you don't," Tiana scolded him. "You're going to tell them everything."

"Tell us what," Sora asked.

"Brave yourselves my giant friends," Naveen said, "we are not frogs, we're humans."

Donald fell over in full blown laughter, Goofy tilted his head, while Sora had to raise his fist in front of his mouth to hide his chuckle. Yet, Naveen and Tiana waited patiently.

"Wait," Sora sobered, "you're serious? What happened to you?"

"This fool," Tiana pointed to Naveen, "got us cursed. And one thing led to another and we got stuck in this bayou."

"This is a dangerous place," Naveen said, "and we are two small, helpless frogs. We could use some protection."

"I don't see any harm in helping them Sora," Jiminy said.

"Yup. Never hurts to help out a friend." Sora pointed to his shoulder. "Hop on."

"Thanks."

With Naveen and Tiana on his shoulder, and Jiminy tucked back safe in Sora's hood, the three friends ventured deeper into the swamp as Naveen and Tiana told their story.

* * *

Under a perfect, blue starry night, a beautiful, young girl walked out under a balcony. The moonlight cast a glow on her lovely, brown skin and sparkling, blue dress, yet the young lady's eyes were full of sadness. She looked down at a picture in her hands, a poster for a restaurant that read, "Tiana's place."

"I was almost there," Tiana sobbed, and then looked up at the brightest evening star in the sky. She looked back into the lavish, pink room she had come out of, checking to see if there was anyone there. Realizing she was alone, she looked up to the brightest star in the sky, held the paper to her chest and wished.

"Please, please, please."

When she opened her eyes, there was a frog sitting on the balcony. Tiana groaned. "Very funny." She stared at the frog. "So what now? I suppose you want a kiss?"

The frog grinned. "Kissing would be nice, yes?"

Tiana screamed and skittered backward into the pink room.

"I'm sorry!" The frog jumped up on the table near the balcony. "I didn't mean to frighten you! Please, let me introduce myself. I am Prince Naveen, of Maldonia."

"Prince?" The girl looked outside, at the star hanging bright in the sky. "But I didn't wish for a prince." She raised a book high in her hands. "Who or what are you?"

Seeing the book, the frog covered his head. "Don't squish me!" Then his eyes flashed and he pointed to the book. "Wait, I know that story!"

Turning the book over, Tiana read the title. "The Frog Prince?"

She gave Naveen the book and he flipped to a page of a princess kissing a frog. He turned the page again and, on the next page, the frog had turned back into a human.

"Yes, that's the answer! You must kiss me."

"Excuse me?"

"To change me back. Come now. Not only do all ladies enjoy the kiss, but I also come from a fabulously wealthy family. Surely there's some reward you want, yes?"

Tiana looked at the picture in her hand, her dream of opening her own restaurant had been crushed, all the money she had gathered had not been enough, but now, she had another chance. If only it wasn't so...nauseating.

"Just one kiss?"

"Just one," Naveen winked.

Tiana cringed. "I can do this, it's just a little kiss." She took a deep breath and puckered Naveen right on the lips, and then found herself on the floor in a heap of blue fabric. She looked up to see Naveen, still a frog, looking down at her from the table above with his eyes wide.

How did he get way up there? She turned around and saw herself in a hand mirror. She was a frog.

* * *

"And that's the story," Tiana sighed, "this never would have happened if you," she glared at Naveen, "weren't messing with the shadow man in the first place."

"If you had been a real princess, we would have turned back into humans by now."

Donald tilted his head. "Princess?"

"The only way to change the two of us back is if Naveen gets kissed by a princess."

"So, you're not really a princess, Tiana?"

"No, I was dressed for a costume party. That's why Naveen thought I was a princess."

"That's some curse," Sora said. "I'm sure we'll find a princess to change you back. I mean, we do know a few."

Donald shushed him. "Order, Sora."

"Right," Sora said guilty. "Just stick with us. We'll figure something out."

Tiana gave him the cutest frog smile. "Thank you."

Sora rewarded her with a toothy grin.

They walked on without noticing the pair of glowing, yellow eyes that trailed closely behind, hidden inches below the murky surface. With every step they took, the sound of their feet splashing water over the lily pads became louder and louder as the world around them stilled. The crickets' chirps quieted down, the fireflies retreated from the air, the wind did not soothe their skin. Sora felt goosebumps on his arms.

Jiminy spoke next to Sora's ear. "The crickets here seem mighty nervous."

And that was the only warning they got.

The world shivered and clouds of darkness popped in the air, dark creatures jumping out of the blackness. The creatures ticked as they moved, as though made from clockwork, black shadows with yellow eyes, claws, and jagged antennae. One look at the monsters surrounding them and the three friends sprang into action.

The creatures pounced, claws reaching out, ready to dog pile the three friends. Sora jumped to the side and slashed the first wave of attackers, making them explode. A wave of lightning destroyed the next round as Donald threw thunder spells left and right, while one thump of Goofy's heavy shield was enough to smash a few shadows into dark dust.

But they kept coming, and their sheer numbers overwhelmed the trio, until Sora was knocked down into the muck and barely had time to bring up his keyblade to protect himself from another shadow. With Goofy busy shielding himself from a barrage of claws and Donald out of magic and just trying to fight the monsters off with his staff, Sora sank deeper into the swamp as the creatures converged on him.

Naveen jumped up onto Sora's chest and tried to fight the creatures back by helping Sora push them back with his keyblade, but it wasn't enough. Sora's shoulders sank below the green water's surface. One more inch and he wouldn't be able to breathe. Tiana joined Naveen but her strength was no match against the swarm of monsters that had now succeeded in pushing Sora's face completely under water.

Frantic, Tiana looked around. Her eyes caught on a thick tree branch that was weighed down by a fallen log. Without looking back, she ran to the log and waved at Naveen. She caught his attention and with a nod of his head, he stuck out his long tongue and it stuck onto the log. Tiana grabbed the tip of the branch and then gave the signal to Naveen. He pulled his tongue back, the log fell off the branch, and Tiana waited for Naveen to get out of the way before she angled the thick branch just right and let go.

The branch whipped across the swamp and smacked back the swarm of dark creatures hovering over Sora, giving him enough space for him to rise up out of the muck with the loudest breath ever. Sora whipped off the mud from his chin and then charged at the swarm of monsters. He smashed one, threw a fire spell at another, rolled out of the way of an incoming attack and then crushed another enemy.

Naveen cheered from a nearby rock as Sora, Donald and Goofy regrouped, until he noticed the pair of yellow eyes creeping closer to him from under the murky water. With a scream, he jumped as high as his frog legs would allow, just out of reach from the sharp teeth that snapped mere inches below his feet.

He tried to grab a tree branch on his way back down, but his slippery, froggy fingers slid off the surface and he was plummeting down into eager mouths. Something wrapped around his wrist and Naveen jerked in the air. Tiana held onto his hand from the branch above, but her fingers were also too slippery and Naveen felt himself slowly sliding downward.

The crocodiles below snapped excitedly, licking their teeth. A flash of blue light and the crocodiles were frozen solid. Sora and Donald charged toward them, keyblade and staff ready with fire and ice spells. The crocodiles shook off the frost from their bodies, but one look at their attackers and they slithered away, disappearing into the swamp waters once again.

Naveen and Tiana slipped, and they screamed for two seconds before they landed safely in Sora's hands.

"Gotcha!"

"Ugh," Tiana stood, "why am I so green and slimy?"

"It's not slime. It's mucous," Naveen huffed. Then he smiled. "Thanks for catching me, _mon cher_." He kissed the back of Tiana's hand.

She pulled her hand away. "Oh no, that tomfoolery may work on some other gal, but not me."

"Then why are you smiling," Sora grinned evilly.

Donald snickered.

"I-I was not!"

Naveen chuckled.

"You stop that!"

Sensing an argument, Sora said, "You guys really saved us back there. I owe you."

"That was some good thinkin' Tiana," Donald added.

Her cheeks turned pink, but then she quickly shook her head and pointed to where the attack had happened. "What were those things?"

Goofy had taken care of the last of them and had rejoined the group.

"Heartless," Sora answered. "They're bad news."

"Wait." Naveed pressed his fist into his palm. "Of course! I've seen those creatures before!"

"Really? Where?"

"When I met with the shadow man. He said he had friends on the other side and then dark shadows appeared, changing me into," Naveen pointed to himself, "well, this."

Donald crossed his arms, his feather's ruffling. "The shadow man has connections to the heartless?"

Putting Naveen and Tiana down on a nearby branch, Sora gestured for Donald and Goofy to come closer. Once the three friends were huddled up, he whispered.

"So, there's still trouble brewing, and the worlds aren't at peace after all?"

"We can't do anything about it until we find a way out of this swamp," Donald said.

"Do ya think the shadow man and the guy in the black coat we saw, are the same person?" Goofy asked.

"If there are heartless in this world, we would need to find and seal the keyhole before they do some real damage," Jiminy said.

"You're right," Sora agreed.

The meeting was over. Sora picked up Naveen and Tiana, smirking when he noticed Naveen winking at Tiana and her giggling behind her hand in turn.

"My friend," Naveen said when he jumped on Sora's head. "You have the most unusual hair."

"Uh, thanks?"

"No, it is I that should be thanking you."

* * *

In the bayou, where the marsh water got deeper and the shadows of the trees were so thick they resembled hulking giants, a decrepit river boat lay half sunken in the muck. It was there that the crocodiles had returned to. They walked over the molded, creaking wood, slithering into a room that was slanted sideways. A worn out ottoman sat in the corner of the room. A woman's shoe sat on the ottoman, the heel bouncing back and forth.

"Brutus, Nero," a singsong voice called.

If anyone had heard the nauseatingly forced sweetness in that voice, they would have had their hairs stand on end, but the two crocodiles wagged their tails, teeth peeling back in a grin. They ran toward the bobbing foot.

A woman peeled away from the shadows. Sharp, wide, green eyes hidden under layers of thick, purple eyeshadow, her skin looked as though it were stretched too tight over her narrow face, and with long, thin, red lips peeled back to show a set of rather large front teeth, she could make any child cry. Yet, the crocodiles must have found her wolfish grin endearing because they got just close enough for her to hug them.

"My darling pets," the woman sang. Then she grabbed their jaws hard and squeezed. "How dare you come back here, empty handed!"

Though her arms were long and skeletal, the woman slammed the two crocodiles hard onto the creaky floor.

"I ask you two to do one simple thing! Now look at what you've reduced me to." She leaned dramatically over her couch. "How am I ever to get my diamond now, having to rely on these two idiots?"

Someone laughed. The woman rose up from her chair, grabbing a rifle that had been leaning against her couch and pointing it in the air.

"Who's there?"

"Now is that any way to treat a friend," said a deep, husky voice.

Though the interior of the room was dim, a shadow moved across the floor. It slithered to the wall where a single candle shown flickering, weak, brown light against the old wood of the room. The shadow straightened, revealing the thin silhouette of a tall man with a cane and top hat.

"I'm here to help you get what you want." The shadow stretched out its hand, and the shape of a giant gem appeared in its palm.

The woman rose to her feet. "My diamond?"

The shadow chuckled. "Yes. Follow my advice, and you'll have what you want before midnight."

The woman tapped her foot impatiently. "Well? Get on with it?"

"Just follow the lead from my friends on the other side."

* * *

Dreams were a strange thing. Each time Sora opened his eyes, he felt as though he were forgetting something very important. Warnings and whispers from somewhere, a voice, familiar and yet mysterious all the same always spoke to him when his eyes were closed, but whenever he woke up, catching those memories was as difficult as holding onto air. Yet, there was one thing that Sora remembered when he woke up after a brief doze in the swamp: a voice he knew.

_"Giving up already? Come on, Sora."_

Sora opened his eyes to see Naveen and Tiana staring at him. He blinked and then swatted the two of them off his forehead.

"Ah! Don't do that!"

Tiana landed gracefully on his shoe, while Naveen flopped to the ground.

"You can really fall asleep in the strangest of places," Tiana tsked.

"You said it," Donald said.

Sora gave him an annoyed look, but it was totally wasted. Donald wasn't looking at his direction. Rather, he was throwing fireballs out over the grey lilly pads in the distance.

Something pat him on the head and a moment later, Jiminy, yawning, landed on the ground in front of Sora.

"Gosh. It's so dark here, that even I can't help falling asleep every so often. We should be more careful and set up a watch, just in case danger comes by."

Sora stood. "You're right, there's no time to rest when there's heartless around. Besides, we still have to keep an eye out for Riku and the king."

"What will you do when you find your friends?" Tiana asked.

"Go back home."

"And we need to go back to our castle with the king," Donald added.

"Still," Sora sighed, "I wish we had a clue as to where to find them."

"Don't worry, Sora. We just have to trust in our hearts and I know we will find em," Goofy said.

And with that, the three friends were back to exploring the bayou. The deep murky waters spawned countless heartless as the three friends twisted and turned each corner in search of the keyhole, Riku, and the King. They searched until their stomach's gave the loudest, deepest growl ever.

Donald and Goofy hung their heads, while Sora couldn't help grinning through a deep blush.

Tiana laughed. "When was the last time you ate?"

Donald groaned and fell flat to the floor. "I can't remember."

Tiana landed on the bayou floor and began looking around. Within minutes, she had found a pumpkin, a mushroom, and some herbs. "How about some swamp gumbo?"

Naveen leaned back against the roots of a tree trunk. "Sounds delicious, I'll start with a pre-dinner cocktail and something to nibble on while I wait."

"No, no, no." Tiana picked up a sharp rock. She walked over to Naveen, pulled him up and put the rock in his hands. "Royal Highness, you are going to mince these mushrooms."

"Sorry, do what?"

"Mince the mushrooms. Go on. And the three of you," Tiana pointed to Sora, Donald and Goofy, "are going to go out there and find me some okra, some parsley, and some spicy peppers. Bring those, and I promise you'll have the most delicious pumpkin gumbo you've ever tasted."

That was all the motivation Donald needed. He blurred back on his feet and ran ahead into the forest. Sora and Goofy bade farewell to Tiana and chased after Donald to begin the search.

"I've never actually done something like this before," Naveen said to Tiana as the three friends left. Slowly, he cut the mushroom into slices. "Back in the castle, everything was done for me."

"Oh, poor baby," Tiana said as she started a fire under the pumpkin.

"I admit it was a charmed life until my parents cut me off and then I realized," he looked at the mushroom sadly, "I don't know how to do anything."

Tiana giggled, picking up the chopped mushrooms from the rock Naveen had been cutting them on. "Well, you're pretty good at mincing. Keep at it and I just might hire you for my restaurant."

Naveen's face brightened. "Really?"

"Nope."

"Oh, that's not funny, that was hitting deep beneath the frog belt."

He continued to cut the next set of mushrooms with a smile on his face, while Tiana happily hollowed out the pumpkin.

* * *

It took some looking and a few more encounters with some heartless, but eventually, Sora, Donald and Goofy, each with an ingredient in hand were on their way back to Naveen and Tiana. Goofy was already licking his muzzle, and Donald looked down at the parsley in his hands dreamily, ready to bite it.

Sora poked Donald's temple.

"Oh no you don't. We have to get these ingredients to Tiana."

"Oh just one bite wouldn't hurt."

Before Sora could say no, a shrill cry shook the tree branches around them.

"HELP!"

Putting away their ingredients, the three friends followed the voice and came upon a pile of heartless. Underneath their black shadowy claws and feet was a woman and she was kicking and screaming.

Donald and Goofy charged, ramming the heartless off the woman and into the air. Sora followed up, jumping and slashing each heartless on his way down. Landing on his feet, he helped the woman up and told her to take cover while he joined Donald and Goofy in defeating the remaining heartless.

A few moments later, they stood in an empty clearing and the woman approached the three of them.

Fixing her feather boa and smoothing out her strange, red hair, the woman clapped her hands together. "Oh thank you, dears! I don't know what I would have done without you."

She leaned so close to Sora, that he couldn't help taking several steps back.

"Why are here, ma'am?"

"Ah, Medusa, Madame Medusa. I'm here looking for my deer, sweet girl! She's lost somewhere in this swamp and I came to look for her but then those creatures attacked me."

"Little girl? Why would she be out in this swamp?"

"You see, when I was a young woman, I lost a diamond in this swamp. It was my greatest treasure until my little girl came into my life. When she found out about the diamond and how much I loved it, my dear sweet thing came to this swamp to find it." Medusa put her hand on her forehead. "Oh, she came because she cares for me, but I can't imagine what would happen to her with all those creatures around! I just want her to be safe."

"Do you have any idea where she could be?"

"Yes! The underwater caves where I lost my diamond! I'm sure she's headed there. Oh what will I do if the tide comes in and washes her away!"

"We'll go look for her."

Medusa's eyes became wide. "You will? Oh thank you so much!"

"Wait, Sora," Goofy interrupted. "We can't just leave Naveen and Tiana behind. They need our help too."

"Then we'll go get them first and then we can help Madame Medusa."

"Can't you just hurry up to the caves?" Madame Medusa snapped, growling. Then her face wrinkled more as she smiled. "I am just so worried about my girl! Here."

She shoved a map into Sora's hands.

Opening it, Sora saw a picture of the bayou. The area where the swamp connected with the sea was circled in red lipstick, an arrow pointing to the location of the underwater caves.

"I will meet you at the caves. Please hurry."

She walked out of sight before Sora could stop her.

Carefully, the three friends returned to Naveen and Tiana. The scent of savory soup wafted to their noses as they got closer, all but erasing their promise to Madame Medusa.

Naveen was standing on the pumpkin with Tiana, sprinkling his minced vegetables into the soup. He winked all the while, leaning making jokes that left Tiana giggling as she cooked. Sora, Donald and Goofy gave their vegetables to Tiana and told her about their encounter with Madame Medusa while she finished cooking the gumbo.

"I see. Well, let's eat first and then head over to the caves."

With a tiny ladle made out of wood, she scooped up soup into some bowl shaped leaves and handed them out to Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy. Naveen ate out of a hollowed out acorn, and the moment he finished his meal, he asked for seconds.

"That was magnificent! You truly have a gift for cooking," he said as Tiana poured him another bowl.

She blushed. "Well, thank you. Though I couldn't have done it without your help."

"Ah well, I admit, working hard for something does make it sweeter."

Donald and Goofy, having already completely slurped up their meal, leaned closer to Naveen and Tiana. They wore the goofiest, dreamiest smiles.

Noticing her audience, Tiana went back to stirring the soup, her cheeks pink.

Sora stared at the red liquid in his leaf-bowl and then brought it up to his lips. A sour-sweet, and savory soup melted in his mouth and then he completely understood why Donald and Goofy had wolfed it down. Even he asked for seconds as soon as he was finished.

As the trio ate, Jiminy looked up from his soup. "Say, Sora, do you find it strange that there's a missing girl in this swamp?"

Swallowing a mouthful of gumbo, Sora nodded. "Now that you mention it, yeah. It is strange."

"That Madame Medusa, should we trust her? She seemed a bit suspicious to me"

"She can't be all bad. She was being attacked by heartless, and if there really is a girl in danger here, I can't just leave her."

"Right," Donald agreed, "but Jiminy has a point. We should be careful."

"I say we go look fellars. It's the right thing to do. We did say we would help."

"Okay," Sora said, "we'll go check out the caves, but keep your eyes peeled."

* * *

**_Jiminy's Journal_ **

Naveen (First appeared in The Princess and The Frog, 2009): Prince of Maldonia. He's a bit of a slacker and a ladies man, but he is also easy going and loves new experiences. After getting turned into a frog, he's traveling with Tiana to find a way to become human again.

Tiana (First appeared in The Princess and The Frog, 2009): A hard working girl from New Orleans, Tiana believes that hard work is the best way to make her dreams come true. She became a frog after kissing Naveen, and she will be doing her best to change back into a human again.

Brutus and Nero (First appeared is The Rescuers, 1977): A pair of crocodiles that haunt the bayou and picked a fight with Sora, Donald and Goofy. They are vicious and love the taste of frogs.

Madam Medusa (First appeared is The Rescuers, 1977): A gaudy woman that is looking for something in the swamp. She seems a little unstable.


	3. Chapter 2: The Caves

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

**_Chapter 2: The Caves_ **

* * *

Madame Medusa stood on top of a rocky shore. She smiled when Sora, Donald, Goofy, Naveen and Tiana arrived, though none of them seemed to notice the annoyed tapping of her foot, or how her lips twitched as though holding her smile was painful.

"There you are! Thank goodness you've arrived."

Madame Medusa pulled out her handkerchief and blew her nose so loudly that Donald couldn't help but grit his teeth together.

"My poor girl! I can hear her voice coming from here." Medusa pointed to an opening in the rocks. "She's in the caves below and refuses to come out until she finds my diamond. I would go in there to stop her but, I don't fit into the opening."

Fat tears rolled down Medusa's cheeks and she lost her balance, swaying back and forth, her pear shaped body bouncing with the motion.

A voice echoed from the caves below.

"Hello? Is anyone up there?"

Madame Medusa cried out. "Oh! There she is! Can you hear me, darling? Are you all right down there?"

"I don't know where I am," called the voice.

One nod from Donald and Goofy was all Sora needed.

"Ma'am. We'll go down there and look for her."

"Oh look for my diamond! It's called the Devil's Eye and it's as large as a baseball." Madame Medusa said excitedly, her eyes focusing into sharp, green needles as she narrowed her gaze. Then, just as quickly, her sobs returned. "I just know my girl will leave the caves if she has it. Oh, why does she have to be so stubborn!"

"Stay out here and watch for the tide," Sora said, "we'll be back."

Carefully, he, Donald and Goofy slipped into the hole. The rock was rough one moment and then slippery the next and Sora yelped as he slid down and down in a limestone tube until he skidded to a stop in an underground cave. Something thumbed hard on his back and Sora slammed face first into the ground as Goofy crashed into him. Donald came next, slamming Goofy down on top of Sora leaving the poor boy to slam his hand against the ground to get their attention.

"Uncle! Uncle!"

"Gosh, sorry Sora."

After helping him up, Goofy and Donald went deeper into the cave. Sora dusted off his shirt and pants. Something dripped on his nose. Looking up, he saw water dripping from the stalactites on the ceiling. The droplets echoed into the tunnels that led deeper into the caves. Seawater leaked in from holes big and small in the cave system, flooding into little lakes and underground rivers.

"Wooow," Donald whistled.

He was leaning over a pool of water and something shiny was reflecting on his face.

Getting closer, Sora peered in.

"Ashidanza!" Naveen sang.

The bottom of the puddle, deep below the surface, was shiny with gold and jewels. Donald couldn't help reaching in. He splashed headfirst into the water, and then kicked his feet. Sora grabbed Donald's webbed feet and pulled. The two of them fell hard against the cave floor.

"Snap out of it! We have a girl to find, remember?"

Donald shook the water from his head. "R-right. I knew that."

"But where should we start lookin' fellars?"

Just as Goofy asked, there was a cry from one of the cave tunnels. The three friends and two frogs hurried toward the sound, ducking and weaving through narrow passageways until they exited out into another large chamber. This time, there were piles of treasure in every corner. Donald clapped his hands excitedly.

"There's loads of stuff here!"

Naveen hopped off Sora's shoulder and picked up the nearest coin, winking at his reflection.

"And just what do you think you're doing with that," Tiana huffed, joining him on the floor.

"What? Surely, the cave can afford to let go of one."

"Exactly," Donald laughed, "one, two, or maybe a hundred."

He got close to the pile of jewels in the corner of the room, and reached for the red sparkling ruby that lay right at the top. The cave shook before he could wrap his fingers around it. Stalactites came lose from the ceiling, stabbing into the cave floor by Sora, Tiana and Naveen. Scooping up the two frogs, Sora dodged and ducked while Goofy and Donald chased after him, screaming all the while.

The cave stopped rumbling as they reached the opening to another tunnel. Above, light shone down from a hole that had opened up when one of the larger stalactites fell loose. "Hello? Anyone down there," Medusa called.

Sora looked up and saw her sticking her head through the hole in the ceiling.

"Have you found my diamon-my girl?"

"No. She must be deeper in the caves."

"Well, hurry it up! The tide is getting higher up here."

"Right." Sora glared at Donald.

Donald laughed sheepishly.

"No more distractions. We've got a girl to save."

Casting one mournful look back at the treasure, Donald followed Sora and Goofy. Deeper and deeper into the caves the friends went, lured by the distant cries of Madame Medusa's girl. With the help of Naveen and Tiana scouting ahead, the three friends were able to navigate the labyrinth of caves by squeezing through tiny passages, climbing up tough rock walls and sliding down slippery hills until they came upon a dead end cavern.

Something clattered under Sora's feet. He looked down and gasped. Donald jumped up on top of Goofy's shoulders. Bones littered the cave floor, gold and jewels glittering between the old, grey remains of countless pirates and adventurers.

"Sora, look there," Naveen pointed.

Up ahead, at the very end of the cave, something was glittering through the eye of a skull. Carefully, Sora approached it, and peeked into the skull through the eye socket. Sitting in the skull was the shiniest jewel Sora had ever seen, the glittering of the gem's facets nearly blinding him.

The Devil's eye.

He grabbed the skull, and the cave lurched. Water splashed up from the underground rivers on the sides of the caves and once again, the roof crumbled. When the shaking stopped, a child stood in the middle of the cavern.

Sora, Donald and Goofy approached her. The girl's eyes were glued to the floor.

"Are you Madame Medusa's girl?" Sora stretched his hand out to her. "We should get out of here, it's not safe."

Slowly, the girl lifted her head. Her eyes were glowing yellow.

A blast of wind sent the three friends back toward the cave wall, as dark ink dripped from the top of the girl's head down to her tiny shoes. Her black body became a blob of goo that stretched and changed shape, the blurry edges sharpening into a two headed, black crocodile that darted forward and snapped its jaws inches away from Sora's chest.

Jumping back, Sora put the Devil's eye in his pocket and summoned his keyblade. The two headed crocodile roared, revealing a heart shaped symbol in its mouth. A heartless.

The crocodile reared back, opened one of its mouths and tried to snap at Sora but was blocked by Goofy, who had jumped in front of Sora just in time for the crocodile's teeth to clamp down on his shield. With one head's mouth full, Sora jumped on the other head and smacked it hard with his keyblade.

The crocodile rolled, throwing Sora and Goofy off. The movement sent Naveen and Tiana flying from Sora's shoulders. They landed on the floor with barely enough time to hop out of the crocodile's way. The heartless regained its balance and spat out Goofy's shield, turning its head toward a dizzy Goofy and Sora.

"Blizzard!"

Blocks of ice rained down on the heartless, stunning it. Regaining their feet, Sora and Goofy charged. The three friends engaged the heartless, until Sora's knees splashed in water.

"We can't stay here much longer! The tide's coming in!"

No sooner had he said it when the heartless' jaws clamped down on Donald. He screamed, using his staff to keep the crocodile's teeth from crushing him, but the other crocodile head darted forward to try and snap his staff away. Goofy threw his shield at the heartless's jaw, trying to distract it, while Sora jumped on top of the head that was trying to swallow Donald. He jammed his keyblade into its mouth and tried to grab Donald's hand, but the head was trashing around so much he could barely hold on.

From down below, Naveen and Tiana watched the battle nervously. The crocodile eventually grew tired of Goofy's shield in his face. It threw a muscular arm in his direction and trapped Goofy under its hand.

"We have to do something," Tiana said.

"Well, you're the chef. Come up with a recipe for success!"

"Up there!"

Tiana pointed to the cave ceiling. The two frogs climbed the ceiling until they were hanging upside down above the heartless. Tiana stopped in front of a stalagmite that was cracked at the base.

"I need you to grab Sora as soon as this falls."

"Of course," Naveen stuck out his tongue.

Tiana kicked with all her might. The stalactite's crack became deeper and deeper until the entire structure shook, inches away from tearing from the ceiling.

"Now!"

Naveen's tongue darted down, wrapping around Sora's wrist and pulling him up into the air. With one more kick from Tiana, the stalactite fell, stabbing one of the heartless' heads, disorienting the creature and leaving its other head to turn and show concern. Seeing the opening, Sora called his keyblade back from within the heartless' jaw. He pulled his keyblade back over hid head and then slammed it hard onto the heartless's back as he fell.

A crack echoed through the caves. The heartless screamed, spitting out Donald into the puddly cave floor. Thrashing, the heartless' body crumbled like a sand castle turning into dust, freeing Goofy as the hand holding him down disintegrated. Panting, the three friends reunited with the frogs.

"Thanks," Donald said.

"A-hyuck! That's twice you two have saved us now."

"Really," Sora gasped, "we owe you one."

Naveen gave them a princely grin, while Tiana put her hands on her hips triumphantly, but there was no time to celebrate. The water level now up to Sora's waist.

Jiminy waved Naveen and Tiana back into Sora's hood. "We'd better skedaddle!"

The trio dashed out of the caves. Donald led the way, using blizzard spells to freeze the water that threatened to engulf them and easily sliding through smaller openings while Sora and Goofy jumped and crawled their way until they came upon the cavern with the hole in the ceiling.

The water had crawled all the way up to Sora's shoulders and Goofy's chest. They approached the slide they had entered from and felt the sudden terrifying feeling of something icy in their stomachs. The entrance had caved in. They were trapped.

There was a call from above.

"Did you find the diamond," Madame Medusa demanded.

Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out the skull that had the Devil's Eye inside.

Medusa threw down a rope. Quickly, Sora, Donald and Goofy climbed up and out of the caves, collapsing onto the wet, coral floor of the cove. The skull rolled out of Sora's hand, breaking onto the shore and revealing the diamond with. While he was disoriented, Madame Medusa snatched the diamond.

"Ah! The Devil's eye! Filled with power for its owner! It's mine at last! And you three, I must thank you for a job well done."

Sora rolled over, rage bubbling in his thoughts, until he felt a boiling terror in his gut. Medusa leered down at him, barring her overly large front teeth. She pulled out a long rifle from under her coat and aimed, her finger tightening on the trigger.

"No!"

Naveen and Tiana sprang out of Sora's hood, landing on Medusa's face and covering her eyes. Madame Medusa reeled backward, her rifle firing into the air.

She shrieked. "AH! Disgusting! Get them off! Brutus! Nero! Help!"

The two crocodiles that had been stalking them in the bayou jumped out of from under the cove water and attacked Sora, Donald and Goofy, distracting the trio long enough for Medusa to get a slippery hold on Naveen and Tiana and throw them into the water.

Sora jumped when Nero snapped at him. He leapt over the crocodile's back and grabbed the Devil's eye from Medusa's hand.

"Guys! Let's get out of here!"

With one powerful shove of his shield, Goofy threw off the two crocodiles, grabbed Donald and chased after Sora. The waves rose, ready to swallow the three friends into the sea as they raced back toward the swamp.

"Get back here, you brats! Give me back my diamond! Brutus, Nero!"

The crocodiles were catching up fast. Mid run, Donald threw a fire spell behind them and clocked one of the crocodiles in the face. It rolled in the water, trying to douse the fire, but it did nothing to stop Medusa and the other crocodile from advancing.

She fired her rifle and Sora felt the bullet whiz by his ear. They were running out of rocks and the water was too ferocious to swim through.

"Look there!" Tiana pointed to some rocks on their left side. "An airboat!"

Sora, Donald and Goofy changed directions, reaching the boat and hoping on.

Sora grabbed the controls.

Donald held onto his seat with a death grip. "Can you really drive this thing?"

"Like driving a gummy ship. Do you have a better idea?"

Letting out a sniveling wail, Donald closed his eyes and Goofy helped Sora pull the stuck lever into gear. The airboat grumbled and then roared to life as the fan began to spin. Madame Medusa was steps away, struggling to load another round in her riffle.

Sora punched it. The airboat launched forward on the swamp water, but they weren't in the clear. Seconds into moving away, Goofy felt something tug on the boat and turned around to look in horror as both Brutus and Nero had snapped down on a rope that was attached to the the underbelly of the airboat. Even worse, Madame Medusa was balancing herself on the crocodiles, sliding along the top of the water as though she were on makeshift skis.

"Uh, Sora, we've got a problem!"

Sora looked over his shoulder. "Well then do something about it!"

Donald shrieked. "SORA! TREE!"

Turning back around, Sora took a hard left, nearly avoiding crashing. Naveen whooped from Sora's hood, but Tiana's eyes were on Madame Medusa, and how she was carefully pulling herself forward on the rope. She took the initiative, landing on Donald's shoulder.

"Now would be a good time for some magic, Duck."

"That's Donald Duck! Goofy! Aim your shield at the crocodiles!"

Goofy raised his shield and waited for the signal. Orange firelight glowed on the tip of Donald's staff. Donald breathed deep, gathering energy. The glow at his staff became brighter, molten lava gathering from the air, into a ball of fire. Donald threw his arm back like a golf club ready to swing.

"NOW! Firaga!"

Donald flung his arm, and the fireball zoomed through the air. Goofy hurled his shield and it ping-ponged hard on each crocodile's head before returning back to his hand. Brutus and Nero thrashed their heads, eyeballs rolling in their skulls. Donald's firaga flew straight at a Medusa, who was too busy trying to balance on two shaky crocodiles to block it.

Her coat caught on fire and her rifle shot, completely against her wishes. The bullet struck the airboat's fan, jamming it. Sora lost control, and the airboat buckled, skidding left and right.

"Everybody jump!"

The trio dived straight into the swamp water, and just in time. The airboat zigzagged across the water, crashing into a group of trees, with Brutus, Nero, and Madame Medusa right behind it. From under the water, Sora Donald and Goofy saw the surface blaze orange. They resurfaced from beneath the water, watching the remains of the airboat as it burned and sank into the swamp.

Medusa and her crocodiles were no more.

The three friends swam back to the bank of the swam and collapsed onto the swamp floor, gasping.

"Woo, boy! Y'all sure made a ruckus," someone said.

Sora and Goofy looked around for the owner of that deep, raspy voice, but it was Donald that caught their attention. He swatted a spec of light in the air, just in front of his beak, but the light was small and tricky, and easily slipped between his fingers.

"Aw, come on now, you don't have to swat me like that!"

Sora grabbed Donald's arm. He squinted at the tiny light and realized it wasn't a light at all, but a firefly with very crooked teeth.

"Thank you kindly," the firefly bowed. "My name Raymond!" He wrote out his name in the air, with his bright behind. "But everybody call me Ray."

Naveen hopped onto Sora's shoulder. "Your accent is funny no?"

"I'm a Cajun bro! What y'all doin' here?"

Now it was Tiana's turn to hop onto Sora's shoulder. "Prince Charming here, got us turned into frogs by a voodoo witch doctor and we just barely escaped from a crazed swamp hag."

Ray nodded and rested his elbow on Naveen's head. "Well there ya go."

"You are not surprised friend?"

"I have been round these parts a bit. Seen all kinds o' strange, especially with Mama Odie in the swamp."

"Who's Mama Odie," said Sora.

Ray flew up right between Sora's eyes and buzzed excitedly, "She got magic, and spells and all kinds of hoodoo."

Tiana jumped. "Wait! Do you think she can change us back into humans?"

"Shoo, of course she can! She can do lots, that Mama Odie."

"Could you take us to her?"

"Course I can!"

Naveen grabbed hold of Tiana and spun her around.

Ray put his fingers in his mouth and whistled and the trees behind him light up with a thousand stars.

Naveen stared into the lights, his eyes wide. "Ashidanza!"

"Me an' my relationshionals will show you da way! You ready to go?"

Tiana and Naveen nodded.

"Guess this is where we part ways. Thank you for all your help, Sora, Donald, Goofy," Tiana said.

"I feel like we should be thanking you guys more," Sora grinned.

Naveen bowed. "If it weren't for you, my friends, we would have been hiding from those two crocodiles forever. Safe travels. The next time we meet, Tiana and I will be humans again."

Goofy bowed back. "Are you sure you don't want us to go to Mama Odie's with ya?"

Ray buzzed up to Goofy's eyes and flew left and right.

"Now see here! Me and my family will take good care of them, for sure! Trust me."

Goofy giggled. "All right Ray." Then he went to Sora and took the two frogs into his hands. "We'll miss you, Your Highness. Ms. Tiana."

Tiana hugged Goofy's thump and Naveen bowed once more.

Next Tiana jumped on Donald's beak and kissed him between the eyes. Donald blushed.

Sora shook Naveen's tiny hand and then lifted him and Tiana onto a tree branch.

"Take care of them, Ray," Sora said.

Ray nodded and then turned to all the tiny fireflies in the trees. "All right, y'all! Let's light da way!"

Sora, Donald and Goofy saw the lights dance and watched Naveen and Tiana hopping behind the fireflies into the trees, until both the fireflies and the little frogs had completely disappeared.

"We'd better get back to the door we came through. I don't think there's anything else we can do in this world."

Before they could even move, Donald yelped up into the air and landed in Goofy's arms, bellowing, "Snake!"

Sora pulled out his keyblade, looking around. A green python slithered on the floor between his feet. Sora lifted his weapon, ready to strike.

"Now, why y'all so jumpy? Calm down. It's only Juju, my seeing eye snake."

From between the shadowy trees, a white spark of light illuminated an old woman. She practically glided over the dew covered ferns and mushrooms till she was standing on the bank with Sora, Donald and Goofy, the light emanating from her walking stick glinting off her golden earrings. The python slithered up the old woman's leg and rested across her shoulders like a boa.

"Now, which one of you children got rid of the crazy swamp lady."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, all smiled nervously.

"Excuse me, ma'am" said Sora, "but who are you?"

"You can call me Mama Odie."

"Mama Odie? But Naveen and Tiana just went into the swamp looking for you!" Sora turned around. "We have to go get them."

"Don't you fret, young man. I'll find them two in no time. I just wanted to catch y'all before you left."

"Us?" Sora exchanged a look with Donald and Goofy.

"Yes. I know you're not from round here." She pointed to Sora's keyblade. "You're the keybearer. And there's something you should know."

Cold air caressed Sora's neck. "What is it?"

"There used to be a great shadow in this world, but now its left."

"You mean, the heartless we fought."

"That's part of it. No. I'm talking about the shadow man."

"The one that cursed Naveen and Tiana?" Donald asked.

"The very same. Be careful on your journey. Dangerous one that. If he's not in this world, he may be in another." Mama Odie walked past the three friends into the forest.

"Wait!" Sora called after her. "What about Naveen and Tiana. They want to become human again."

Mama Odie sang. "Prince froggy was a rich little man, he wants to be rich again, but money aint got no heart, money aint got no soul. Would that really make him happy? And little Tiana works hard for what she wants, but doesn't know what she needs." She turned to face Sora. "There's a difference between what they want and what they need. They need a princess' kiss to become human again, but there are no more princesses left in this world."

Donald and Goofy hung their heads and groaned.

"But they worked so hard to find you!"

"Now calm down. I never said there isn't a way to break the spell. You listen to your mama now." Mama Odie smiled mischievously. "I'm sure you've noticed, haven't you?"

"Noticed what?"

"That Miss Froggy and Prince Froggy may already have everything they need to change back?"

Goofy covered his mouth. Deep, chuckles escaped from between his fingers. Donald let out a long, "oooh" and then joined in on the laughter. Sora frowned.

"But, you said only a princess's kiss would change them back."

"Uh huh, and whoever becomes Prince Froggy's wife will be a," she put out her hand, inviting Sora to complete the sentence.

But Sora didn't need to finish her thought. His chest filled with warmth as he remembered how Tiana blushed, how Naveen loved her cooking, and, in his heart, he knew they would be all right.

"Right. Thanks, Mama Odie."

"Oh, and one more thing." With her walking stick, Mama Odie pointed upward toward the sky.

Up above, the brightest star in the sky flickered. Sora stared at it, watching it glow brighter and brighter until the light from the star slowly morphed into a familiar shape. A transparent keyhole hung in the sky. Automatically, Sora felt his keyblade materialize in his hands. He aimed it toward the sky, and a beam of light shot out, piercing the heavens and connecting with the keyhole. A clicking sound echoed across the sky and a sense of peace enveloped the world and the keyhole was locked tight.

* * *

Bang. Bang. Bang. The door wouldn't budge. Knocking hadn't worked, pulling hadn't worked, neither did kicking it with all her strength. She had even tried asking nicely! Worse, after days of trying to force it open, the door was perfectly pristine, as though it had never been touched.

Panting, Kairi sat down onto the cave floor and leaned her head back. Up above her was a tiny opening that let sunlight through. She looked around the cave walls, at all the pictures that the children on the island had scribbled onto the walls. There really was nothing extraordinary or strange on the island, except for this cave, and the strange door on the wall that had no knob or keyhole.

Kairi knew that door. It had thrown her off the island, the same dark night her world had been destroyed and her heart had sought refuge inside of Sora's. She was sure this was her way to other worlds. A way off the island. A raft wasn't good enough.

She stared at the scribbles on the walls, her eyes falling, for the thousandth time, on picture she and Sora and drawn together when they were little.

"I won't give up, Sora," she huffed and puffed, "I'll find you and Riku. Somehow."

Defeated for another day, but refusing to give up, Kairi left the cave with the mysterious door and exited out into the sunny day above the Destiny Islands. She stood in front of the little entrance to the secret cave, watching two boys on the beach.

They were throwing a ball back and forth on the shore. A little ways away, a girl in a yellow sundress sat on a the tiny pier, watching the two boys with a shake of her head.

Kairi walked down to the pier and sat down next to the girl. They sat in silence for a while, staring out into the waves. Kairi smiled, thinking about the day she and Sora had sat there, talking about what they would do when they got to see other worlds together. And now he was off out there, searching all the worlds without her.

The girl curled her brown hair with her finger. "You've been going to that cave a lot lately."

Kairi watched the two boys aggressively thrown their ball back and forth. The smaller of the two boys was attempting to kick the ball back to his friend in the middle of a headstand, except he kept missing and falling onto his back in the sand.

"What are Tidus and Wakka trying to do?" Kairi asked the girl.

"Trying to come up with a new ball game. I wish," the girl covered her mouth, "never mind."

Kairi smiled, even though her heart ached. "I know. You wish that Sora and Riku were here to help them with their game."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Selphie. I'm sure they'll be back someday. I'm sure of it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"We came back didn't we?" Kairi nudged her. "So there has to be a way for them to come back home too." Then to herself, Kairi said, "I have to keep believing that."

Selphie picked up the jump rope that was sitting at her side. "I hope so. I'm going to go help those two dummies before they lose their ball in the ocean!"

Kairi watched Selphie join Tidus and Wakka, watched the three of them play until the sun set, and then said goodbye when they each rode off to the main island in their boats. Alone, she stared out into the sea, remembering how the world reshaped itself after Sora and his friends had put it back together.

She had seen him, standing on the edge of the horizon before the sky reappeared and he was swallowed up by the sun. What was beyond their world, Kairi wondered. What world was the closest to theirs?

A lonely, perfectly round, island stood out of the water to her left. On the island was a tree, and on the tree were sweet, star shaped fruit. Legends said that if two people share the fruit, their destinies were intertwined and they would remain part of each other's lives, no matter what.

"No matter what." Kairi faced the entrance to the hidden cave.

Night was coming, and even though she would be in trouble for not going back to the main island, Kairi just had a feeling that the dark of the night would open the door. She entered the cave just as the sun completely set behind her.

* * *

**_Jiminy's Journal_ **

Mama Odie (First Appeared in the Princess and the Frog, 2009): A kind, blind old vodoo priestess that lives in the Bayou with her seeing eye snake, Juju. She's zany and wise and won't give you want you want but will remind you about what you need.

Ray (First Appeared in The Princess and the Frog, 2009): A brave little Cajun firefly that lights up the bayou with his shiny behind. He's a reliable guide.

Kairi (First Appeared in Kingdom Hearts, 2002): Sora's childhood friend and one of the seven princesses of heart. She returned to the destiny islands after Sora's last adventure.

Tidus (First Appeared in Final Fantasy X, 2001): An energetic boy that lives on the Destiny Islands. He's always challenging Sora and Riku to practice fights.

Wakka (First Appeared in Final Fantasy X, 2001): A chill boy that likes to watch the beach at Destiny Islands. He's really good at ball games.

Selphie (First Appeared in Final Fantasy VIII, 1999): A cheerful girl that always sits on the pier, watching the sea. She acts like she's in charge of the other kids a lot of the time.

Pluto (First Appeared in The Chain Gang, 1930): The King's dog and best friend. Pluto is playful and mischievious and has a habit of popping up when you least expect him.


	4. Chapter 3: Little London

**DISCLAIMER** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any of the Disney/Square Enix characters that appear in this work. Please support the original releases.

* * *

**_Chapter 3: Little London_ **

* * *

"What tiresome little beasts."

Green smoke swirled around in the air, creating a circle. In the middle of the circle, like a window to another world, was the image of the Castle Oblivion's great hall. A boy, a duck and a dog walked out of the castle's dimensional door and looked around the empty space.

"Those fools. And to think they have no idea what they've stepped into."

There was a pompous cackle, followed by another puff of sickening smoke. A woman stood in front of the circle in the air. She smelled of death, both from the cigarette balanced on its holder between her bony fingers and from her puffy, white fur coat, which did nothing except make her skeletal figure look much bigger then it really was.

"Boorish woman. Extinguish that infernal instrument of suffocation."

The fur clad woman turned sharply toward the speaker. A thin, old man in long, black minister's robes turned up his long, crooked nose at her.

"Boorish?" The woman growled. "You're wearing that silly dress and hat and you call me boorish?"

Fury sparked in the man's narrowed eyes, but he did not let his emotions get the better of him. Instead, he elegantly put his fingertips together. "I am not here to partake in your petty goals. I have a much more sacred quest. Spare me the childish squabbling."

Another figure glided into the room, this one even smokier then the woman. Except the smoke came from his black robe, which flowed and swirled at the hem like ashes in the wind. On top of his long head was a blue fire instead of hair. He smiled, revealing a row of shark teeth.

"Can't get any more sacred then me, your holiness." The fire-headed man bowed. Then he turned toward the woman. "I suggest you don't underestimate those brats."

"What can one measly child do?"

"This ain't my first rodeo, ya gaudy fashionista. That little squirt there and his keyblade are annoying news."

The woman shook her cigarette at the man. "I will not be outdone by a child, an overgrown water fowl and a mongrel."

She had to pause to take a breath, on the verge of another complaint, but she did not get the chance to speak. Her smoke window disappeared, obscuring the view of Sora and his friends. The white void that they stood in dimmed slightly as a shadow without an owner moved over the floor. The shadow laughed silently on the ground, circled the woman and the two men before reattaching to a pair of black and white suede shoes.

A lanky man strutted into the space, his cane tapping along with his steps. His shadow did not match his movements. Rather then walking, it danced on the ground as though taunting the rest of the group.

The man bowed, tipping his feathered top hat, revealing a thick head of hair. He wore a maroon, undertaker tailcoat, and a purple vest that seemed too small for him as his midriff was bare. When he spoke, his voice was smooth and throaty, reverberating like a bass cello.

"Now gentleman, and lady, of course. I didn't call you all here for some meaningless squabbling, now did I?"

"No, you promised something in return," said the old man, "and you have yet to keep your end of the bargain."

"Now, Your Grace," the smooth man bowed, "I am a man of my word."

"I do not tolerate witchcraft or those that live outside of the Holy Kingdom of God. Your 'friends' aid had better be worth it."

When the shadow man rose, there was a misty mischievousness in his violet eyes. "Such darkness, Your Grace. I assure my friends will give you exactly what's coming to you."

* * *

Sora, Donald and Goofy had entered through the door from the Enchanted Bayou's side and had exited out back into the room they had started in back at Castle Oblivion. Nothing had changed since they left it. The exit hadn't magically reappeared and the only way out of the room was the same door they had just entered from.

Donald and Goofy spoke to each other, while Sora went to each corner of the room, looking for a switch or mechanism. Unfortunately, the walls were perfectly smooth and hospital white; there wasn't a spec of dust out of place that could give him even a hint of a possible secret passage. He tried to knock over one of the decorative pillars in the room, too see if there was anything underneath, but found that it was bolted to the floor. Whacking it with his keyblade hadn't worked, either. He had only succeeded in breaking off a piece of the pillar.

"Something's screwy," Donald began. "How come that door leads to another world? Why were there heartless in there?"

"We may have stopped Ansem, but it's not like we got rid of the darkness." Sora summoned his keyblade, staring at it. "Leon said that the heartless will keep coming after me as long as I wield the keyblade. And the heartless are made of darkness. It we destroyed the darkness, would we have gotten rid of Riku and the King too? Since they were in the heartless realm?"

"We'll just have to rescue the King and Riku before we find a way to get rid of the heartless for good," Goofy offered.

"But how are we going to do that? The only way out of here is through the door we just came from. So what now? Do we go back into the bayou?"

Donald shrugged and Goofy scratched his head.

"We won't get anything done in here," Jiminy said. "Let's go back and see if we can get some advice from Mama Odie. She seemed knowledgeable."

With no better plan, the three friends went back up the stairs and pulled the door open. White light enveloped them like an embrace as they walked through the doorway, but when the brightness faded, they weren't in a misty bayou.

They were standing in an alley between two ornate buildings that towered over them. It was so high that Sora could barely see the grey clouds overhead. A shiny, rain-washed street, with ridiculously large cobblestones lay under his feet and tail.

Tail?

Sora stared. There was a long, thin mouse tail between his faded, yellow shoes. He felt oddly warm, as though he were wearing a wool jacket. When he looked down at his hands, he stiffened in surprise. He had paws, and his skin was covered in a thin layer of ash-brown fur.

Shocked, he smacked his hands on top of his head, which led to another surprise. Velvety soft ears were growing out of his scull. Looking around, Sora spotted a puddle right outside the alley. He ran out into a wide street and looked down into the water.

"I'm a mouse." He pulled at his clothes. Rather then the usual red shorts and blue and white jacket ensemble, he was wearing a burgundy tailcoat with golden buttons, and black trousers.

"Cool! Guys," he turned around and called Donald and Goofy over, "check it out?"

Donald and Goofy weren't mice. They were just smaller versions of themselves. The only thing that had changed was that they were wearing similar style clothes.

"Aw man! Couldn't you guys turn into mice too?"

"Nevermind that," Donald huffed, "where are we?"

The ground vibrated as something came down the road. Turning, Sora saw hooves thundering closer and closer. The three friends ran, but their new tiny legs made it very hard to outrun a horse. Donald and Goofy panicked, crashing into each other. Dizzy, they didn't see the hoof that was about to squash them flat. Sora threw his body at his friends, grabbed them and rolled toward the middle of the horse, between the hooves. He watched as the giant animal, and the wagon it was pulling, passed over them.

Eventually, the horse and carriage stopped further down the side of the road. A man and woman stepped out.

"What a dreary morning," the woman said, opening a parasol even though there wasn't much rain. She walked arm and arm with the elegantly dressed man up the steps to the front of a house that stood next to a street sign that said, "Baker's Street."

"This is the place, my dear." The man knocked on the door.

"Oh I do hope he can help us," the woman cried, "we've no where else to turn."

The door opened and the two of them disappeared inside. Just as they did so, it seemed as though the rest of the world had woken up. More carriages and people appeared on the road. A milkman went from door to door, replacing empty milk bottles with new ones. A man dressed in all black went from lamp post to lamp post, extinguishing all the candles. A boy strolled down the streets, his satchel heavy with newspapers, knocking door to door to make his deliveries. And a little mouse girl ran past Sora, Donald and Goofy with tears in her eyes.

She ran toward the house where the man and woman from the carriage had entered, but she didn't climb up the steps. Instead, she vanished into the bushes next to the stairs. Sora chased after her. Passing between the leaves and branches of the bushes, he found a clearing with a tiny door on the side of the building. The little girl was banging on the door.

"Basil! Basil! Open up!"

Her hand was turning red.

Sora reached forward and grabbed her wrist. She turned around with wide, glassy eyes and then pointed up into the bushes.

"Look out!"

Yellow eyed rats sat on the branches above. Their mouths oozed with purple froth, their fur crumbling as though they were made from ashen paper. One of the rats reeled back. There was a heartless emblem on its chest. The rats' sharp eyes locked on Sora and the little girl.

It flashed across the small space between them like a bolt of black lightening. Sora grabbed the little girl and rolled out of the way, and the heartless slammed against the door. It quickly rolled back onto its feet, squealing like a needle on glass. The sound felt like a screw was being driven into Sora's newer, more sensitive ears. He grit his teeth, shaking his head, his brain feeling like it was swimming in smoke.

At the first sign of his weakness, the heartless attacked. The girl screamed, hiding her face into Sora's tailcoat. Sora pulled out his keyblade and hurled it at the nearest heartless. It sliced through the heartless' open mouth, making it explode into darkness. The rest of the heartless advanced, claws out, teeth dripping with purple venom, and Sora's keyblade didn't return to his hand in time.

It was just then that Donald and Goofy stumbled into the bushes, crashing shield and staff first into the heartless that was inches away from shredding Sora into pieces. The leader heartless was thrown to the side, but other heartless charged. Sora jumped in front of his friends and the girl, raising his keyblade to shield them, but just then the leader heartless had recovered and it charged at them from the side.

Sora had no time to shield himself.

He shut his eyes.

He felt the mist from the heartless' breath, and then heard a thundering blast.

Opening his eyes, Sora watched as the swarm of heartless exploded one by one. The last heartless launched itself at Sora's head, jaws open wide, only to burst into dust a moment later. Behind the heartless stood a handsome, smartly dressed mouse in a deer-stalker hat. A heartless roared at him from the branch above.

The mouse didn't even turn. He simply lifted his pistol over his head and shot. The headless exploded. He gleefully destroyed the remaining heartless, and, after defeating them all, he twirled the pistol, flipping it toward his lips and blowing into the barrel.

"Fine way to test my marksmanship, I must say."

Without looking at Sora, Donald and Goofy, the mouse bent down to inspect the ground where the heartless had been standing. He rubbed some dirt between his fingers, sniffing it.

"Hmm, extraordinary."

The mouse poured the dirt into a glass vial, and then went to the door in the wall, entered the house and slammed the door behind him. The little girl chased after him.

"Basil, wait!"

"Olivia?"

A stout mouse with a mustache entered the tiny clearing. He ran to the little girl. "I say child, what on earth are you doing here?"

Just then, the other mouse stuck out his head from his house. "Dawson, my good chap! I am on the verge of a breakthrough! Come in!"

Dawson glared. "Dash it all Basil, how can you just walk by Olivia and these people?"

Basil squinted at Olivia and then at Sora, Donald and Goofy as though seeing them for the first time.

"Ah, well. Good morning friends. Have you come to ask for the assistance of the great Basil of Baker's street?"

The little girl, Olivia, ran up to Basil. "I need your help! My Daddy's gone."

Basil huffed. "Again? Ms. Flangerhanger-"

"Flaversham!"

"Whatever. Just how many daddies can a little girl lose?"

"I didn't lose him." She stomped her foot. "He was taken! By those creatures!"

The detective's eyes got wide. "Those creatures you say? Well, why didn't you lead with that? You there, young mouse, duck and dog."

Sora wrinkled his nose. "We have names you know."

"Yeah," Donald grumbled, "it's-"

"No time for introductions! Come on in!"

* * *

Kairi sat in the middle of the cave, wrapping bandages around the cuts on her fingers and palms. She closed the pocket first aid kit and tucked in back into the travel pouch on her belt. This was her third night in a row sneaking out of the house to come to the door. She had been so sure it would open this time, and had even tried to find a crack between the door and cave wall. Her attempts to pull it open that way had only ended up with a handful of splinters.

Kairi stood and patted the dirt off her purple skirt-shorts. Spreading her feet apart, she pointed at the door.

"I'll get you open one way or another! Just watch! You won't keep me from my friends."

If only brave declarations of not giving up would make the door open. Kairi groaned. In all her years living on the islands, she had never once thought that she were in a prison, but that was when Sora and Riku were with her. Now she could understand Riku's wish to leave.

Just a few months ago, she had planned with Sora and Riku to make a raft, to sail across the ocean and see if they could find another world. She hadn't really wanted to leave the island like the boys had. She went along for the fun of it. She never really expected to be thrown off the islands, or even find the world she had originally come from.

Kairi closed her eyes, imagining Hollow Bastion, the meshwork of old, empty halls and pipes that was where she had been born and where the heartless had appeared for the first time. Questions she had never asked herself before mixed in with worries for Sora and Riku. She had been so happy living on the islands, she had never thought about where she had been born. All she remembered was her grandmother's story. But now she wondered who her parents had been, what Hollow Bastion had looked like before Maleficent had taken over, before Ansem had lost his mind and filled it with heartless. And why was she a princess of light? What exactly did that mean? What role did she have to play?

"I won't learn anything if I'm stuck on this island."

She moved toward the exit of the cave. Just before she got to the tunnel that led to the way out, Kairi turned around to look one more time at the door, hoping it had opened. No luck. With a sigh, Kairi left the caves.

The moonlight cast a silver shadow on top of the seawater. Walking along the beach, she looked out at the island with the paopu tree. She hadn't been to that island since she had come back home, and she refused to go back there until her friends had returned. Still, Kairi wasn't in the mood to go back to the main island. She was too awake to sleep and for the first time ever, she debated not going to school in the morning.

Kairi laughed. Ditching school was something Sora would do. How many times had she and Riku gone to class only see his chair empty. Then they would catch him fishing or napping on the islands. Good-at-everything-Riku would get all of his school work done just so that he wouldn't actually have to go to class, and Kairi, just as lazy as Sora, would do the bare minimum not to get in trouble.

She closed her eyes, imagining the three of them racing on the beach, and spending lazy days watching the sun set. The ocean breeze, still warm even in the night, caressed her skin, and something wet tickled her fingers.

Kairi's eyes snapped open. Turning slowly, she looked down. A dog with a bump on its head was smelling her hand. Catching her eye, the dog rolled over on its back, exposing its belly. Unable to resist, Kairi bent down to pet the dog.

"Now where did you come from?"

The dog panted happily from the belly rubs. Kairi lifted his dog tag and read the name "Pluto."

"Nice to meet you, Pluto."

The dog turned over and began scratching its ear with its hind leg. It was just then that Kairi noticed a letter in the sands.

While Pluto was busy, Kairi reached to pick up the letter. Turning it over, she noticed a mouse-shaped seal. As Kairi opened the letter, the dog went around in a circle before lying down in the sand and closing its eyes.

Sliding the delicate parchment paper out of the letter, Kairi read.

_Donald. Goofy._

_Things have gotten worse. We may have closed the door, but somewhere in the worlds, there is a machine. A machine made by Ansem shortly before he left his body behind and took over Riku. That machine is still making heartless, and, as long as it is running, more and more people will disappear. I'm sorry to ask this of you, but it doesn't look like I can leave the heartless realm just yet. I need you and Sora to go to Yen Sid. He should be able to tell you of a way to travel between worlds now that they are separate again. I'll try to meet you as soon as I can._

There was no name on the letter, only the same mouse shaped symbol at the bottom, but Kairi didn't care. Stuffing the letter into her pouch, she ran back into the cave, ignoring Pluto's barks as he chased after her. She reached the area with the door and threw her body against it.

Pain stabbed along her arm and shoulder, but Kairi tried again. The second time made her head spin, and she fought the urge to sit down and catch her breath.

"Let me through," she growled.

The door refused. Closing her eyes, Kairi concentrated on the letter.

"Please. I know they're in danger, I can feel it. There has to be something I can do, I can't just wait here. I have to see them again. I will see them again!"

Pluto put his head under her hand, as though trying to comfort her. Kairi patted him absentmindedly.

There was a creak.

The door opened just an inch.

All the sound in the world was silenced. Even her footsteps. As she got closer to the door, Kairi felt light, as though she were about to be blown away. She pulled the door open more and looked inside.

The thing beyond, Kairi could not describe. A mass of energy? An emotion? A place, a time, a core, a heart, a memory? Something, not air, not water, but silky and cold fluttered around her body. She floated in a sea of everything and nothing. It made her want to laugh, cry, and be furious at the same time.

Pluto didn't hesitate. He leaped through the doorway and Kairi didn't look back as she followed. The door slammed back shut behind them.

* * *

It didn't take long for Sora to learn that Basil was both incredibly intelligent, and yet irritatingly rude. He watched with an odd sense of fascination as Basil zipped from one end of the room to the other, pulling out books, sipping tea while reading and writing down notes at the same time, looking under a microscope, and muttering all kinds of things while completely ignoring everyone else in the room. Several times he ran past his housekeeper so fast that she had to keep the contents of her tray from falling by balancing it with her tail.

"Have some cheese crumpets dears," said Basil's maid tiredly, putting out tea and sweets for Sora, Donald and Goofy.

While Donald and Goofy happily partook in the treats, Sora moved toward Basil to ask what he was doing. Dawson pulled him back.

"Don't disturb him," Dawson said with a smile, "this is quite normal behavior for him, in fact."

"Huzah! I have it!"

Basil threw a book on the table and opened to a page with a strange black illustration. Getting closer, Sora saw a dark outline of a creature with jagged antennae and claws. A heartless.

"I knew I had seen forms like those creatures before. Listen."

Clearing his throat, Basil began to read.

"'Of all the strange phenomenon reported by London's very own mice, none are stranger then the myth of the shadow spawn.' Fascinating. I surmise that all the missing London mice were taken by these creatures!"

Dawson shook his head. "Creatures of shadow? Are you serious, Basil?"

"My friend, when you have eliminated all other possibilities, what remains, no matter how improbable must be the truth." He continued to read the old book. "Now then. 'These creatures seemingly come out of nowhere, and swallow unsuspecting mice and rats alike, leaving no trace behind.' What a mystery indeed!"

Olivia gave a terrified moan and then pressed her face into her scarf, sobbing.

"Basil," Dawson chastised.

"What?"

Goofy gave Olivia a pat on the head. "Now, now. there's no reason to be upset. I'm sure your daddy's all right."

Olivia peeked at him from under her scarf.

Sora rounded on Basil. "Can't you be a little more sensitive? This is no time to be researching heartless. We have to help her find her Dad."

Basil's eyes got wide. "Heartless you say? Now how do you know what those creatures are called?"

Sora could practically feel Donald's annoyed glare boring into his back. Luckily for him, Basil continued theorizing.

"I must say these creatures are simply fascinating. If I could only capture a live specimen, I could study its behavior patterns."

Immediately, Sora, Donald and Goofy all stood and yelled.

"No!"

Basil gave them a quizzical look. "You three certainly seem familiar with these creatures."

"Uh, what gives you that idea?"

"Elementary, you wouldn't react so intensely unless you had something to hide. Why shouldn't I get to the bottom of these so called heartless?"

Sora waved his hands. "I-it's just a really bad idea."

Basil raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

Sora wasn't sure it would be very smart to tell him what had happened to the last person that had studied the heartless. The worlds didn't need another Ansem.

Once again, Basil did not give Sora the time to think of a good excuse. It seemed as though a few seconds of silence was all Basil could stand before he jumped to the next course of action.

"Very well. Seeing as you three have some experience with these heartless, and since Ms. Flamhammer-"

"Flaversham!"

"-needs some help, I am recruiting you three to aid in this case."

Once again, Sora, Donald and Goofy couldn't get a word in as Basil easily turned his attention to Olivia.

"Now then, lead the way, young lady. Where did you see your father last?"

* * *

The ground beneath her feet was strange. It was sounded wet, yet there wasn't any water. The white surface didn't look like rock, or dirt, or stone. She wasn't sure if she were outside, or in a very deep cavern underground. There was no horizon, no sky, and no bottom to the abyss below. Every corner of the world, as far as she could see, ended in blackness.

The air was motionless and lukewarm. The only noise was the sound of her own breathing and heartbeat. The only light came from the eerie purple glow that peeked out like a fungus in the cracks of giant rocks that seemed to jut out of from the darkness.

Kairi didn't know how far she had walked, or even how she had gotten to that place. She was standing on a narrow bridge that seemed to extend endlessly in both directions. Above and below were a spiderwebs of bridges and platforms. If it weren't for the fact that she was sure she was standing right side up, she wouldn't know which way was up or down. Pluto walked by her side, his head down and his tail up, ever vigilant.

This had to be the realm of darkness. The heartless' world. Kairi could feel it. The empty, lonely space around her didn't have the life of nighttime darkness. Even when she lay down to sleep in her dark room, there were stars overhead, an ocean breeze, a cricket chirping, the warmth of her bed sheets, but now it was nothing but a wasteland without sensation.

Kairi took out the letter from her pouch and stared at the mouse shaped seal. She remembered Sora's adventures. Though her heart been torn from her body, she had taken refuge inside Sora's heart, and she had seen the world through his eyes. She watched Sora struggle to find his friends, watched Riku make terrible decisions, and learned about Donald and Goofy's search for their king.

She was sure the letter had been written by the king. She had to find him and tell him that the letter hadn't reached Sora, Donald or Goofy. Then together, they would find a way out of the realm of darkness and deliver the news to their friends.

She walked and walked until Pluto let out a little whine, and her feet ached from hours, or was it days, of walking. Sitting down on the strange ground, with her feet dangling over the deep chasm below, Kairi leaned back. Pluto sat down next to her and she absentmindedly scratched him behind the ear. He put his head in her lap.

"I'm so glad you're here with me."

Pluto let out a happy growl.

"I want to take a break too." She looked out into the ocean of darkness. "This place is huge. I wish I had a map."

Pluto shot up from her lap. He lowered his body, his hackles raised, his ears back, and his fangs barely visible under his quivering lips.

Though there wasn't any noise, Kairi felt something creeping closer, like the rising thunder of an incoming stampede. There was frost in her joints even though there was no change in temperature. A creeping shiver rolled through her, like ants crawling all over her skin.

Pluto barked.

Just a few paces ahead, the air thickened with dark, purple orbs. Out of the lumps of dark smoke, spherical creatures appeared, their pitch-black bodies blending into darkness. The only thing that made their bodies discernible from everything else, were the beady, yellow eyes that locked onto Kairi and Pluto.

Kairi had seen those heartless before. At Hollow Bastion.

The dark balls floated toward them, and Kairi saw the jagged, zizzagged shape of their teeth opening and closing as they got closer. One threw its body at her, and she ducked, feeling the end of the heartless' frayed tentacle pass over her spine.

Her skin itched from the contact. She felt a surge of fear, loathing and sadness flash through her body for a moment and her knees felt weak. Unable to get her legs to move fast enough, Kairi could do nothing but raise her arms and cover her face as another heartless launched itself at her. Purple teeth opened wide in front of her eyes.

Pluto jumped, snapping his jaws down on the heartless' tentacles, pulling it back from Kairi's face just in time. The heartless thrashed, tossing Pluto around like a fish on a hook. Pluto growled, refusing to let go. Kairi tried to grab his tail, to pull him off and run, but the rest of the heartless were closing in, trapping her between them and the bottomless pit below.

The last heartless finally shook Pluto off and the poor dog landed in a heap at Kairi's feet. The swarm of heartless advanced and Kairi walked backward until her heels touched the edge of the platform she was standing on. Which was worse, falling or being devoured?

The heartless attacked.

Kairi dropped down and covered Pluto with her body, gritting her teeth, listening to the sound of scratching bites ripping through the air, getting louder. There was a flash of yellow light. Metal scrapping and thunder banged through her ears, and then she felt the sprinkling of mist falling on her forehead and shoulders.

Looking up, Kairi watched the heartless explode one by one. Electricity zipped in the air before fading out. Then all was silent again.

"Are you okay?"

Kairi gasped, looking around for the owner of the voice.

"Up here."

Looking up, she saw the silhouette of someone standing on the platform above hers. There was a faint glow coming from something in his hand, a yellow spark that slowly dimmed out. The figure jumped down to land in front of her.

As he came closer, he became clearer. He was short, only a head taller then Pluto. Though, when his long, rabbit ears stuck up, he could have been as tall as Kairi's shoulder. Black fur covered his head and ears, but his face was white, with round, curious, black eyes, and a button nose. He wore blue shorts with yellow buttons and a ruffled dress shirt. In his hand was a long, stick made of mahogany wood.

"Cura," the rabbit said.

He lifted the stick in the air, the end glowed a soothing, spring green. The light fluttered around her, small four leaf clovers bursting in the air before they sprinkled over her skin. The glow faded just as quickly as it had appeared. Kairi felt warmer. Completely rejuvenated, she stood.

"Thanks."

Pluto charged, pouncing on the rabbit and throwing him down.

The rabbit screamed.

"Ah! Stop that! It tickles!"

He tried to push Pluto off in between his laughter, but Pluto, his tail wagging so fast it blurred, was determined to give the rabbit all the doggy, slobbery thanks he could muster. Kairi whistled and Pluto lifted his head, running back to her side.

The rabbit stood. He glared at Pluto. His fur stuck out at odd angles, his wide eyes and twitchy nose making him look way too adorably frazzled to be intimidating.

Kairi snorted and had to cover her mouth before she could go into a full on giggling fit. Somehow, it didn't seem very polite to laugh at her possible savior.

"Ewwww." The rabbit whipped the slobber off his face with his sleeve.

"Sorry," Kairi said breathlessly. She had to pinch herself to stop the smiling, but her cheeks refused to come down. "Thank you for saving me."

The rabbit tapped his long foot. "What do you think you're doing in the realm of darkness? Don't you know how dangerous this place is?"

"I had to come here. I'm looking for someone."

All the annoyance dropped from the rabbit's face. "Looking for someone?"

Kairi nodded, reaching into her pouch. "I have to find the person that wrote this letter. Maybe he can help me find my friends."

"You're separated from your friends?"

"Uh huh."

His eyes softened for a moment, and then he shook his head and the grumpy expression returned. "How can you come to the realm of darkness without a weapon? Do you even know any magic spells to help protect you?"

"I, uh, well-"

"What would your friends do if something happened to you while you were in here?"

"But I-"

"Hold out your hand."

"Huh?"

The rabbit grabbed her hand and tapped it with his stick. Kairi felt zapping along her arm like a million static shocks. She pulled her hand back, giving the rabbit a hurt look.

"What was that for?"

The rabbit wasn't listening. He paced back and forth, with a smile on his cute face.

"Right. That's the stuff." He waved his stick in little circles in the air. "You got magic in ya. A lot of it." He pointed at her with his stick. "You can use that."

Kairi looked down at her hands. "You mean, I can perform spells?"

"You want to find your friends, don't ya? You're going to need to learn at least one spell. I'm going to teach you the fire incantation."

Kairi clapped her hands together. "Really? How do I do it?"

"Okay, close your eyes and imagine the sun in your chest."

Kairi did as she was told. In her mind, she saw a fire burning where her heart should have been.

"Now, pretend that sun is moving through you, ready to come out."

The fire in her chest traveled through her veins. Kairi tried to imagine heat moving through her chest to her toes and fingertips, but she didn't feel any warmth.

"Now concentrate the fire in your hand and say the incantation."

Kairi lifted her hand, did as she was told, and said the word, "Fire."

But her fingers didn't glow or warm up. She didn't feel any energy being expelled from her body. Nothing. Not even smoke. The two of them stood for a moment, starring at her open palm in silence until Kairi smiled nervously.

"Guess I'm not too good at it."

"Maybe fire isn't your thing." The rabbit shrugged. "We'll keep practicing. And until you get it, stick with me. I can keep an eye on ya."

Kairi felt the syrupy sweet feeling of excitement in her chest. "You're going to travel with me? Really?"

The rabbit's ears dropped, pink coloring his cheeks. He rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it'd be really mean to just leave you here alone. Name's Oswald by the way."

"Kairi. Pleased to meet you."

She extended her hand and the rabbit shook it. His fur was soft and warm.

* * *

Olivia's house was a toy shop with all kinds of mouse dolls, wooden boats, yo-yos and kites for Donald and Goofy to play with while Sora assisted Dawson in keeping up with all of Basil's increasingly ridiculous demands. Which was a shame, because all Sora really wanted to do was play with the toys.

At the moment, Basil's behind was sticking up from under a table. He was crouching with his eye glued to a magnifying class. Sora and Dawson were on the other side of the table, holding a candle in each hand to provide Basil with some light.

Basil rubbed dust between his fingers. Then he pulled out a glass tube with some dirt in it. Whatever he was looking for didn't match and Basil moved forward on all fours, sniffing the floor.

He smirked. "Ah hah! No mistaking it. It's the same cold smell of those creatures I so expertly dispatched earlier."

"What?" Sora leaned up so fast that the top of his head bumped the table over him. "Ouch!"

Dawson patted him on the arm. "Are you all right young man?"

Rubbing his head, Sora nodded. Then to Basil he said, "You can smell the heartless?"

"Well, certainly not, but when those creatures vanished, they left behind a very distinct scent. The scent of ozone covered the dirt where they had been and the faint scent of it lingers here as well." Basil rose from under the table. He walked over to Olivia. "Young lady, are you sure you saw your father being dragged from here?"

"Yes. Those creatures came in from the window and grabbed him. He fell under the table and then when I looked, he and the creatures were gone."

Basil tapped his magnifying class against his chin for a moment and then rounded on Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Gentleman, we are not leaving this toy shop until we have found a clue. No time to play, we've a search to do."

Donald and Goofy put away the toys sadly. While Sora and Dawson inspected the room, looking under and behind the furniture, Donald sat on Goofy's shoulders and looked at the high corners of the room. Basil poked his head through the window and stared intensely at the sill, the curtains and the glass.

He took out a bag full of white powder from inside his coat pocket and covered the window glass and sill in it. Hand prints appeared on the window, and the white dust showed slashes in the sill, indicating claw marks. As Basil poured over what his finding could mean, Sora lifted a bookshelf for Dawson to look under.

The older mouse's head vanished under the book shelf. Then he moved back, signaling for Sora to put the shelf back down. In Dawson's hands, something metal glinted. He called Basil over and the detective snatched a coin from Dawson's hands.

He brought the coin to his nose, sniffed it, polished it on his shirt and then smirked.

"We have our next location, gentleman."

"The bank?" Goofy asked.

Basil held up the coin in front of Goofy's eyes. "There is a distinct scent of gin, sea water and sewage coming off this coin. There is only one pub in the entire city that lies in the junction between the sewer system and the ocean. Judging by the lack of dust, this coin is new. I surmise that it must have rolled under the bookshelf recently, and look here."

Sora, Donald, Dawson and Olivia leaned in close to squint at the token. There was a slash across the gold plated surface, revealing the plain metal underneath.

"This scratch mark has the same pattern as the marks on the window."

Dawson put his hand on his forehead. "Oh, don't tell me we're going to go back to that pub. My head still spins from the last time we were there."

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal** _

Olivia Flaversham (First Appeared in The Great Mouse Detective, 1986): A sweet, rambunctious little girl who loves her Daddy very much. She's completely at ease helping Dawson and Basil solve mysteries.

Basil of Baker's Street (First Appeared in The Great Mouse Detective, 1986): An intelligent and plucky detective that lives for the game of solving mysteries. He's a jack-of-all-trades and very talented in the fields of science and history, but he can be a bit self-centered and rude at times.

Dr. David Q. Dawson (First Appeared in The Great Mouse Detective 1986): A kind doctor that assists Basil on his cases. Dawson is the perfect foil to Basil's narrow-minded nature. He provides a more grounded view when solving mysteries.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (First Appeared in Trolly Troubles, 1927): An energetic, mischievous, and mysterious rabbit that has a lot of skill in magic. He's quick to help others and do the right thing, but why is he in the realm of darkness?


	5. Chapter 4: The Clock Tower

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

**_Chapter 4: The Clock Tower_ **

* * *

The scent of rotten stew and some other things that Sora really didn't want to imagine mixed terribly with ocean breeze. The wharf felt like a moldy, moist laundry room with mildewed socks in every drier. Sora, Donald and Goofy walked beneath the pier behind Basil with their shirts pulled over their noses.

Tucked into the underbelly of the pier was a tiny door and to Basil's surprise, it was open.

"Curious," he said as he entered the room.

Sora had expected a room full of musty smoke, without an empty seat or table in the house. He had thought the room would have been full of tons of ruffians playing cards, throwing knives, and ordering "pints" from the bar. Instead, he saw an abandoned room with scratch marks all over the tables, floors, and overturned chairs.

Basil lit a lantern and surveyed the damage. Glass mugs and bottles had been thrown down and shattered, making the entire room sparkle under the light. Parts of the bar had been hacked off. The curtains on the stage ripped off and lying in heaps. A lone piano sat in the corner by the stage, and it had been squashed down the middle as though a giant had pounded it with his fist.

"Whoa," Donald clicked his beak, "what happened here?"

Basil rubbed some dust between his fingers. "Clearly this place has been attacked by the same fiends we are pursuing."

"I knew that! I meant why did they attack here?"

Basil walked deeper into the pub, searching for clues. "Indeed. I don't understand why these creatures are targeting London's mice. Where did the pub patrons go?"

"I can answer that question for you," someone said.

Sora, Donald and Goofy all summoned weapons, searching the corners of the room for the owner of that smooth voice.

There was a chuckle. "Hey, now calm down."

A rat appeared on the broken stage in the back of the pub. At first, Sora thought she were wearing the ripped curtains, but as she came closer, he realized that she wore a red coat with a large escutcheon over her chest and torso. He couldn't see her face, as it was covered by a red, winged hat.

"Halt," Basil commanded. "How is that you are the only one here when this place has been ransacked? Answer, rat!"

The rat stopped with her hands up. "I came for a drink. One moment this place is lively, the next, strange creatures are pouring out of the walls, gathering up every patron in sight. I tried to fight them off but one of the fiends caught me by surprise and knocked me out. I woke up to this mess."

"And why were you behind the curtain?"

"Same as you. I was looking for clues. Then you arrived."

Basil began pacing, muttering under his breath. As he went about his strange manner of investigation, the rat waved at Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"You three. You're not from around here, are you?"

"Uh," Goofy began.

"Well," Sora added.

"We're from out of town," Donald finished harshly, glaring at his two friends.

"I see."

With her finger, she lifted the brim of her hat, revealing her smile, green eyes and silver hair.

"Interesting weapon you have there."

She pointed to Sora's keyblade.

"Confound it!" Basil stomped around in a circle. "We're back to square one." He faced Sora, Donald and Goofy. "We're going back my lab, chaps. I've some deductions to do."

The rat woman got down on one knee. "If you're investigating those creatures, please let me come with you."

Basil stiffened. "Ah, that's quite all right, miss?"

"Freya. Freya Crescent."

"Ms. Crescent," Basil cleared his throat, "I assure you I have all the help I need to-"

"I'm sure my lance will be very helpful to you. There is strength in numbers after all, and I'm curious myself as to why these creatures are attacking mice."

Basil didn't look convinced.

"Come on," Sora said, "let her come."

Basil leaned in close to whisper in Sora's ear. "Don't be daft. Do you not see that she's a rat."

"What's wrong with that?" Sora whispered back.

"I have very fine hearing you know," Freya said. "And you shouldn't lump all rats together."

For the first time since meeting him, Sora saw a look of complete embarrassment cover Basil's cheeks. Before he could blink, Freya was walking out of the pub and into the wharf, and that's how Basil found himself back at his home with a new ally.

Freya and Olivia sat by the fire and the little girl delighted in wearing Freya's hat and trying to lift her heavy lance. Basil and Dr. Dawson worked on figuring out new clues. They're work went on until the sun set for the day, until Dawson fell asleep on the couch out of sheer exhaustion. Donald and Goofy curled up on the rug by the fireplace and were knocked out around midnight. Olivia fell asleep on the divan.

Only Sora and Freya remained awake, watching Basil obsess over the next course of action. Unable to stand the boredom, Sora asked Freya why she was so interested in the heartless.

She shrugged. "A good test of my fighting skills, I'd say. Curiosity mostly, something to do other then the usual."

Sora peeked at her. She was standing against the wall with her arms crossed, watching Basil with mild interest.

"What do you usually do?"

Freya leaned forward, her hat completely hiding her face. "I spent years looking for someone really important to me."

"Did you find him?"

"He found me, but he wasn't the same anymore."

Sora thought of Riku, and how they had reunited back at Traverse Town. He had been so relieved to finally find him after searching for him for so long. If only he had known what would have happened next, if only he had known about Riku's decent into darkness. He wouldn't have been so carefree back then.

He thought about the realm of darkness and hoped that Riku and King Mickey were all right in there. He thought about Kairi back on the islands. He remembered Mama Odie's strange warning, he thought about the one hundred Dalmatian back puppies in Traverse Town, and on and on, until his eyes couldn't stay open anymore.

Sora was only pulled out of his dreams when Basil exclaimed.

"DRAT!"

Donald, Goofy, Dawson and Olivia snapped awake. Freya, who had been silently keeping vigil all night, leaned away from the wall and neared Basil.

"Having some problems?"

"Yes. Without a single clue to go on, I have no way of narrowing down where those heartless will show up next in the city. We'd have better luck searching for them from the top of Big Ben at this point."

Surprise shot through Sora. He recognized that name. The image of flying around the night sky with Peter Pan and the giant clock face with the keyhole hidden inside, flashed through his mind. He looked to Donald and Goofy, and saw that they had recognized it too.

"Big Ben is in this city? How is that possible?"

Basil gave them a smirk. "One of London's greatest landmarks. You're in for a treat."

Olivia ran to the door. "We're going to go there? Let's go!"

Dawson, still groggy, tried to chase after her. "Now wait just a moment!"

But Olivia was already out the door. Seconds later, the sound of her scream shook everyone in the room.

Freya and Sora ran out and found Olivia kneeling down in the clearing. In front of her was a small shadow heartless, staring at Olivia with wide, yellow eyes. Freya was quick, reaching Olivia and pulling her away within seconds, leaving Sora with an opening to rush forward, raise his keyblade and-

"No!" Olivia screamed and kicked in Freya's arms. "Don't hurt it!"

The heartless looked at Olivia, tilting its head.

"What's gotten into you?" Sora said. "They're dangerous!"

"But it didn't hurt me. He gave me these!"

It was just then that Sora realized that she was holding a pair of spectacles in her hands. He looked at the heartless. It hasn't moved, hadn't tried to defend itself, it's only action had been when it had tilted its head and looked at Olivia with curiosity.

"These are my Daddy's glasses," Olivia said. "Can you please put me down?"

Carefully, Freya put Olivia back on her feet. Basil and the others came out of the house and their first instinct was to aim their weapons at the heartless.

"Stop! It's nice. Don't hurt it!" Olivia jumped in front of the heartless, stomped her foot, and gave each of them a commanding glare.

Sora walked around the heartless. "It's not attacking? This is weird. What's it doing here?"

"How fortuitous!" Basil reached into his coat, produced a pair of handcuffs and snapped them around the heartless' claws. He dragged the heartless inside, ignoring Sora, Donald, Goofy and Olivia's cries.

Inside the house, he walked around the heartless with a magnifying glass, poking its antennae, checking for a heartbeat with a stethoscope, measuring its height with tape and placing it on a scale to find out its weight. Olivia came inside and pushed Basil away. She knelt down in front of the heartless.

"Where's my Daddy? Did you take him?"

The heartless didn't answer, but it didn't look away from Olivia's face either, only tilting its head again.

At the door, Donald and Goofy gave Sora confused looks.

"Gosh, do ya think this heartless is like the ones at Halloween town? They were tame for a little while."

Sora remembered how Jack Skellington had tried to get the heartless to dance with him for his Halloween celebration back at Halloween town. It had been the first time on their journey where they had run into heartless that hadn't attacked them on sight.

"But those heartless started attacking after a while," Donald reminded them. "We'd better be careful."

Sora watched the docile heartless. Basil had turned it upside down and was inspecting the soles of its feet. Even then, the heartless still hadn't fought back. How was this possible? He had never seen a heartless that tame. Sora shook his head. That was lie. He did know of a heartless that didn't fight back after it was poked and prodded.

"Maybe this heartless is new."

"What do ya mean?"

"When I turned into a heartless, I started forgetting things. Maybe it takes a little while for their more dangerous instincts to kick in. I didn't attack you guys when I was a heartless did I?"

Donald shook his head.

"I have an idea. Maybe if we let this heartless go, it can lead us to all the lost mice."

Donald gave him a dubious roll of the eyes. "Come on, Sora. We don't know if that will work."

"Do you have another plan? Besides, if we can get it away from Basil, then he can't experiment on it."

"He's right, Donald."

"Okay." Donald crossed his arms. "Just be careful."

Basil wasn't too keen on letting his specimen go but was easily appeased when Sora mentioned that it could perhaps give them another lead.

"The heartless can help us. If we don't find anything we can always come back here."

Basil gave him a shrewd stare, one that he held for so long that Sora couldn't help but fidget. Finally, he said, "Very well."

He removed the handcuffs from the heartless. Then he bent down, and with his hand, moved the heartless head so that it stared at him in the eye.

"Lead us to the other mice."

The heartless turned its head back to stare at Olivia.

Basil scoffed and tried again. The results were the same.

"Oh please, Mr. Heartless," Olivia said, "can you take us to the other mice?"

To everyone's surprise the heartless began walking toward the door. Olivia chased after it, but Dawson grabbed her hand.

"It's too dangerous."

"Worry not," said Freya, picking Olivia up, "I'll protect her."

"Quickly friends! It's getting away!"

They ran out into the sunny day, chasing the heartless as it crossed the street, went through an alley, and into a long pipe that led into the sewers. Eventually they came out of a drainage pipe in the middle of a park. The heartless ran through the grass, ignoring the crowd of people that had come to picnic during the morning hours.

Basil and the others hesitated, but the heartlesss was getting away, easily evading the people's feet by flattening itself like a shadow on the ground. Carefully, they weaved through the giant shoes and were almost out of the crowd when suddenly someone's shriek burned into their ears. A woman reeled back, pointing.

"AH! MICE!"

The entire crowd panicked and soon they were dodging stomping shoes, umbrellas and rocks as the people attacked. Donald dodged one foot, only to be kicked by the next. He collapsed onto the ground and Goofy had to turn around to pick him up. Sora noticed his friends weren't on his heels and ran back after them, losing sight of Basil and the others. He was lost in a forest of legs and screams, and he didn't notice a giant boot coming down on him until the shadow of it blocked out the sun overhead.

Sora summoned his keyblade, but even he knew that it wouldn't be enough to block a giant shoe! Donald and Goofy's cries from behind him were suddenly muffled. Sora turned around, but couldn't spot his friends. Then the shoe stomped down on him.

Sora felt a sweeping sensation, and then everything was black. He was warm and nauseous, swaying from side to side. He wondered for a moment if he had fallen into the realm of darkness. Then, the black space surrounding him opened up and the light came into his eyes so quickly that he fell back on his tail, his eyes feeling as though they were ready to pop out of their sockets.

"My goodness, that was close."

Sora felt a jolt go down his spine. He knew that voice. It was loud, but very clear. With his eyes finally adjusting to the light, he looked down. He was sitting on a giant hand.

The other hand came to rest next to his, and Donald and Goofy were on it. Donald held onto Goofy, his eyes squeezed shut. Goofy patted him on the shoulder and Donald, realizing that they were no longer in danger, let go of Goofy quickly and began to pat down his clothes in a-little-too-late attempt at regaining some dignity.

Sora turned around, and saw the owner of the hands. A young, human girl smiled down at them, her blue eyes dancing with excitement.

"Sora, is that you? How curious! You've become a mouse! Is this Wonderland's magic?"

Donald pointed. "Wah? Alice? What are you doing here?"

"This is my home."

Goofy grinned. "So you picked us up from the crowd. Ah-yuck! Thanks for savin' us."

Sora looked back at the crowd of people. They were still searching the ground for mice.

"How did you know it was us?"

Alice carefully put them down on the grass at the base of tree. The overgrown roots blocked Sora, Donald and Goofy from sight.

"I felt a familiar light, so I grabbed you. And it seems as though I was just in time. It would have been dreadful if you had been squashed flat. What are you doing here? I thought the worlds were at peace."

There wasn't much time to explain, as Sora was anxious to reunite with Basil and the others, but seeing as Alice was a Princess of Light, one the seven maidens of the purest heart, and since she had saved them, he felt the need to give her an explanation.

"I've never heard of such a castle," Alice said when Sora had finished with his story. "Perhaps this door you speak of is a gateway that randomly throws you out into whichever world it chooses. Perhaps, by sheer luck, the door may open up into the realm of darkness. That must be what what hooded man meant when he said that, 'there is a doorway between light and dark.'"

"Then we're just going to have to keep trying the door until it takes us to the world we need."

"Do you think that's wise, Sora? Maybe you should think twice about going into the realm of darkness."

"Why?"

"Because the last man to open the door to darkness ended up destroying many worlds."

"But we need the king," Donald said. "And we still have to find a way to get rid of the heartless for good."

"We promise to be really careful, Alice," Goofy added.

"Oh, I hope you don't make any rash decisions. Nonsense invites the darkness, you know."

"But what do we do now?" Donald said. "We lost track of Basil and the others."

Alice lay her hands down on the grass, motioning for Sora and his friends to stand in them.

"Hmm, well, I don't know if it will help, but I do sense a faint darkness nearby. Perhaps your friends went there. Do you want me to take you?"

Sora, Donald and Goofy nodded. Alice tucked them into the pocket of her apron. Several minutes later, the booming chimes of a bell resonated in the air. Sora peeked out of Alice's pocket. Big Ben loomed high over London, looking much bigger from below then it did back when they were flying around it in the air with Peter Pan.

"Here you are," Alice said, "I sense a darkness coming from inside Big Ben."

Donald huffed. "So it was here after all."

Alice gently put the three friends back down on the ground. They thanked her before zipping across the street. They neared the building and slipped through the metal fence. At the base of the clock tower, there as a tiny hole in the dirt that the three of them were able to squeeze through.

They climbed up the brick and mortar innards of the tower, higher and higher until they were breathless. Just a few more platforms upward, Sora spotted a familiar, very round silhouette. It was Dr. Dawson.

They persevered through one more climb and collapsed at Dawson's feet.

"Good heavens! Are you all right?"

Finally catching his breathe, Sora said, "Where are Basil and the others?"

Dawson pointed to a rope that lead higher up the clock tower. "I was to wait for you three to arrive. I'm glad that you found your way here."

Standing, Sora, Donald and Goofy neared the rope. It was tied around a matchbox that rested between a pair of beams. The rope disappeared into the dark ceiling up above. Dawson herded Sora, Donald and Goofy into the matchbox. The cardboard bulged as the four of them were packed like sardines. Dawson pulled on the rope outside, before sliding the matchbox closed.

"All right then. Are you ready?"

"Ready for wha-aaaaaaah!"

The matchbox zoomed upward through the air. Donald gripped the walls with his teeth clenched. Goofy hollered.

"Ah ho ho ho hoy!"

Sora's toes curled in his shoes. He felt the matchbox swaying side to side as it shot through the air and had to cover his mouth in the hopes that he wouldn't puke. Just as he thought the ride would last forever, they jerked to a stop and tumbled out of the matchbox onto yet another beam.

"Ah, there you are," said Basil.

When his head no longer felt as though it were rolling like a bowling ball, Sora saw that the rope around the matchbox was connected to some strange wheeled contraption that was bolted to the wall. Olivia and Freya had been operating it by turning a handle.

Olivia waved a hand in front of Goofy's rolling eyes. "Are you okay?"

Goofy mumbled something silly, as though he were caught up in a lovely daydream.

"Come now. Up you get," Basil snapped. "It is not much farther. The heartless vanished through there."

He pointed upward. On the wall there was a crack that fanned out into a jagged hole. As the party climbed up and through the hole, they came out into a secret room on the other side. The walls looked as though they had been chewed inward. Cages decorated the room. They were full to bursting with mice. Young, old, male, female, crook or ordinary citizen, they were all lumped tight between chain linked metal.

Upon seeing Basil and the others, the mice, all cried out in one big, jumbled voice.

"Get us out of here!"

"Help!"

"Quickly, run before it comes back!"

"I don't want to be turned into a monster!"

Basil reached into his pocket and neared one of the caves. There was a lock placed on the metal door of the cage. He pulled out a long hair clip and busied himself with popping the lock open.

Sora went to the next cage, and with his keyblade, unlocked it. The mice poured out. Olivia ran forward, shouting for her father, but none of the mice reacted to her. They all ran toward the opening in the wall, but they never reached it.

Darkness oozed out of the walls, covering the exit. The mice screamed as the darkness amalgamated into a shape. Sora threw his key blade at the amorphous shadow, and it split down the middle, just enough for a few mice to get through.

"Quickly Dawson! Lead the civilians out!"

Dr. Dawson whistled, getting the attention of the mice. One by one, he pushed them through the doorway.

Sora shouted at his friends. "Donald, Goofy, keep it busy."

He heard the unmistakable clap of Goofy's shield striking something and felt the coldness of Donald's ice spells freezing the monster behind him, but he ignored it as he went to the next cage and unlocked it.

More mice poured out. Freya joined Donald and Goofy in engaging the giant blob of darkness, pushing it back just enough for Dawson to lead the kidnapped mice outside. Olivia chased after the crowd, calling for her father, but just then the dark shadow swelled to the ceiling. It sailed over the crowd of panicking mice below, and sharpened to a spear that was pointed straight at Olivia.

Basil and Sora rushed forward, but they weren't fast enough. The dark spear soared through the air. Basil shot at the darkness with his pistol but it did nothing to slow it down. and the spear pierced straight through Sora's ice spell.

Olivia threw her hands over her face. Then the docile heartless that had led them there jumped in front of her, taking the blow from the giant, shadowy mass and falling to the side of the room. It lay there pathetically, the only sign that it was still alive was the trembling of its limbs as it tried to stand.

Sora reached Olivia, and was able to deflect the giant shadow upward toward the ceiling. It crashed through the bricks overhead, disappearing into a cavernous room with massive gears just above them. The area shook, dust and rubble falling from the broken ceiling.

"Ms. Freya," Basil shouted, "get Ms. Flaversham out of here!"

With a nod, Freya tucked Olivia under her arm and dashed out of the room with Dawson and the rest of the mice. Donald and Goofy looked up into the hole in the ceiling.

Donald pulled his arm back and bellowed. "Blizzaga!"

A staircase of ice erupted out of his staff, leading up into the room above.

"Sora, we're going after the darkness!"

Basil ran to the bottom of the stairs. "Not without me you're not."

The four of them raced into the room, weapons up, looking between the gaps in the giant gears of Big Ben as they ground and ticked. One of the gears up near the orange, glass clock-face was pitch black. Slowly, the black color faded from the gear like paint being pulled out of a picture. The black color molded itself, taking on a shape much like the rat heartless Sora and his friends had fought when they had first met Basil. Except this time, the shape stood on two legs. A long flowing cape blew behind the creature's back, even though there was no wind. It stood taller, with a long, whip-like rat tail, and a muscular upper half.

Basil gasped. "It can't be."

Eyes appeared out the creature's head and it leered down at them, its claws digging into the gear. Invisible lips peeled back and its mouth opened, showing a row of yellow, pointed teeth. It fell toward them. Donald, Sora, Goofy and Basil all jumped away from the fiend.

Basil shot at it with his pistol, Goofy threw his shield and Donald sizzled it with a thunder spell. The creature withstood the attack, and then it reared back and roared.

The air thickened with the feeling of hatred and despair as more rat heartless appeared. As Donald and Goofy fought back the lesser enemies, the leader rat turned its eyes on Basil. It flashed toward him, pinning him against the floor, its jaws opening wide. Basil aimed his pistol into its mouth but missed, grazing the creature's cheek instead. The creature clamped its teeth together, its eyes wide.

It pulled back, only to raise its clawed hand and slice into Basil's shoulder.

Sora jumped onto its back and whacked it on top of the head with his keyblade, and the creature reached up, sunk its claws into Sora's leg and threw him across the room. Sora fell and didn't have enough time to shield himself from the smaller rat heartless as they converged on him. With all four of his friends busy, and his shooting arm trapped under the rat's heavy paw, Basil had no way to protect himself as the rat's teeth opened up in front of his eyes.

Something silver flew through the air, piercing the rat on the side of its head, knocking him off Basil. Now free, Basil rolled back onto his feet, grabbing his pistol off the floor. The room spun and his shoulder burned from the nasty scratch. Someone caught him by the arm and kept him from falling.

Basil turned and saw Freya at his side.

"This is no place to rest, Detective. We have enemies to dispatch!" She let him go and charged toward the giant rat, pulling her spear out of its temple. It was like ripping a splinter out of a finger. The rat wasn't affected, easily fighting back against Freya. She ducked and weaved out of reach from the rat's claws, nimble as an acrobat.

With the leader rat distracted, Basil turned his attention toward Sora. He was outnumbered five to one, and barely had time to defend himself let alone attack. Basil focused, breathing out, watching the heartless' movements. Then he fired four shots.

Bullseye.

Each heartless exploded, leaving the remaining one to be sliced through by Sora's keyblade. Donald and Goofy defeated the remaining heartless and then joined up with Sora and Freya. They converged onto the leader. They hit with spells, bashed it with a keyblade and shield, stabbed it with a spear, and riddled it with bullets, but each time, the giant rat treated the attack as mere annoyances.

Meanwhile the party's attacks were getting sloppier, their movements dulled by exhaustion. Sora couldn't duck fast enough, and got whipped by the rat's tail. His temple throbbed and he only had a second to jump back and keep the shadow rat's tail from slashing into his stomach.

"We're not doing any damage," Freya grunted, summersaulting out of the way of another attack. She didn't land as gracefully as she had before, stumbling to keep her balance.

Sora threw a thunder spell at the rat, and then had to lean forward to catch his breathe.

"What do we do?"

Donald, his magic almost spent, staggered where he stood. Sensing weakness, the rat lunged at him, but its claws were stopped by Goofy's shield.

Basil watched as Freya and Sora kept the heartless busy while Goofy tended to his friend. As Sora got close to the creature's teeth, rather then open its mouth and bite, the creature shut its jaws tight. Freya stabbed it in the chest with her spear, but the creature swiped her with its massive arm, throwing her off to the side and pulling out the spear as though it were nothing.

Basil's mind reeled. His eyes darted about the room. He had to do this quickly.

"Sora! Freya! At exactly the moment I tell you, run toward me and do exactly as I say."

Basil took in a deep breathe and then shouted.

"Hey you vile sewer rat!"

The creature turned its attention away from Freya and Sora, its wide eyes staring unblinkingly at Basil.

"You heard me, you common filth! Couldn't beat me then and now you're back for revenge eh? Well," Basil spread his arms wide, "now's you chance!"

The rat stalked toward Basil, ignoring Sora and Freya as they walked carefully behind it.

"Yes, that's right. It's you, isn't it, Professor Ratigan. What foul depths did you crawl out from?"

The rat had reached Basil and it lifted its claws but held them in the air, not breaking eye contact from the smug mouse below it, as though waiting, daring Basil to give him a reason to strike him down.

"But we know the truth, don't we? Eh? 'Professor?'"

The rat snarled.

"You're nothing more then a common-"

The rat opened its mouth. Basil pointed at Freya and then pointed to the Rat's feet.

"Filthy-"

He gestured at Sora, pointing up above the rat's head.

"Sewer Rat! NOW!"

Freya swept her spear low, banging it against the rat's shins. It fell forward, just as Sora stomped down on its back, the surprise making it open its jaws wide, just in time for Basil to shove his pistol between its teeth.

He fired.

The rat swelled, getting bigger and bigger until it popped, releasing a blast of wind that threw everyone off their feet, but when the moment passed, the rat was gone.

Sora, Donald and Goofy whooped. Freya, chuckling, clapped her hands. Basil threw his fist into the air.

"How about that? Defeating my arch foe not once but twice. Marvelous!" Basil turned to face his comrades. "You three! Fantastic work!" The he cleared his throat and walked toward Freya.

"Ms. Crescent. I believe I owe you an apology. You are every bit the knight you say you are. I'm ever so sorry for doubting you."

He extended his hand, and Freya took it.

"Perhaps now, you know that not all rats are nefarious evildoers."

Basil laughed. "Well, now I certainly know to call you if I ever need a knight."

Their celebrating was interrupted by the sound of Olivia's cries. She was still calling for her Daddy down in the room below. Jumping back down, Basil looked around the room. All the captured mice had escaped. Olivia was overturning rubble, her eyes glimmering with tears.

"H-h-he's not here."

She sat down on the ground and blew her nose into her scarf, wailing.

Dr. Dawson came behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Olivia pulled out her father's glasses from inside her coat. Her tears fell on the lenses. Just then the docile shadow heartless moved from across the room. It came to sit next to Olivia and put its claws on the spectacles in her hands.

Before anyone could say anything, Olivia reached forward and patted the heartless on the head.

"D-Daddy? Is that you?"

"Oh no," Goofy whispered.

"I get it now," Sora said sadly. "It's just like me. I was chasing after you guys and Kairi, people I knew. That's why it's not hurting her."

"You mean to say," Basil began, "that creature is Ms. Flaversham's father?"

"Makes sense," Donald said. "That's why it only listened to her."

"So, he can't change back?" Freya asked.

"I don't know," Sora admitted. "When I turned into a heartless, it was Kairi who-wait! Maybe we can change him back."

Goofy and Donald exchanged a look. "What'ya mean," they said.

"Alice. She's a princess of light. We have to find her."

* * *

Sora, Donald and Goofy left Basil, Dawson and Freya behind, believing they could move faster with only Olivia and the heartless. They raced back to the park where they had first found Alice. Luckily, she was having tea under one of the gazebos, next to an older woman. When they neared, Alice stopped mid sip of her drink and excused herself.

She went to sit in some flowers nearby, which gave Sora and the others the perfect cover to approach without being seen. When she spotted the heartless, she drew back a bit, but she did not flee, or speak, until Sora, Donald and Goofy were finished explaining.

"This is curious," Alice said, picking up Olivia and the heartless. "I believe your father's love for you is what is keeping his heartless so calm, but I don't think it will last long. I can feel the darkness getting stronger and if it completely takes over, your father will forget who he was, lose all his emotions, and become like the others."

"There has to be a way to change him back," Sora said. "Kairi was able to do it! Maybe her power as a princess of heart pushed the darkness away."

Alice shook her head. "I can try, Sora, but I don't think my power will be enough. I will need Olivia's help."

Donald and Goofy hung their heads, moaning sadly.

"Olivia," Alice continued, "remember your father. Share your light with him."

"O-okay."

Carefully, Olivia wrapped her arms around the heartless. "Please come back, Daddy. I miss you, I love you."

Alice's eyes drifted shut, her hands closing around Olivia and the heartless. She breathed in deep. Sora, Donald and Goofy held their breaths. There was a flash of light between Alice's fingers, and when she opened her hands again, Olivia's father was holding his daughter tight in his arms.

* * *

Sora, Donald and Goofy said goodbye to Olivia and Mr. Flaversham. They promised to tell Basil, Dawson and Freya the good news. By the time they reached Baker's street, it was already evening. Dr. Dawson had tea ready for them and while Donald, Goofy, and Freya exchanged stories over their warm brew, Sora and Basil theorized.

Basil, now wearing his evening robe and leisurely blowing smoke out of his pipe, leaned back in his big chair. "Darkness is a peculiar thing, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sora.

"Something so small as love for a daughter can keep it at bay it seems and something so vile as hatred can bring a defeated foe back to haunt us."

"You mean, Professor Ratigan?"

"Indeed. I believe Ratigan's lingering feelings of rage and resentment lured in the darkness, turning him into a heartless even after he was defeated. Kidnapping Olivia's father, turning him into a heartless, kidnapping all of London's mice as a conspiracy for me to investigate, all things that Ratigan would do."

"If darkness can make someone become a heartless even after they've already been defeated, would that mean that becoming a heartless is inevitable? Alice said that if Olivia's father had forgotten who he was, then he could never be changed back. Does that mean, I have no way of helping the heartless other then putting them out of their misery?"

"I'd say keep investigating."

"Huh?"

Basil poked Sora in the forehead with his pipe. "Young man, the more details you gather, the closer you will be to the truth. Go. Learn. And remember, if you're ever in need of a talented detective, make sure to find me on Baker's street."

Sora rubbed his forehead, but he was smiling from ear to ear. "Thanks."

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal** _

Freya Crescent (First Appeared in Final Fantasy IX, 2000): A humble knight hailing from an unknown kingdom. Her skills with a spear are as sharp as her mind. Freya is honorable and kind, but seems as though she has experienced much hardship in her life. She is always willing to lend her spear to those in need.

Alice (First Appeared in Alice in Wonderland, 1951): One of the seven maidens with the purest of hearts. Alice is curious and logical at the same time. She helped Sora on his last journey to close the door to darkness, and warned Sora against being too reckless in his journey.

Professor Ratigan (First appeared in the Great Mouse Detective, 1986): Basil's arch enemy. He was a devious schemer that tried to take over all mousedom but was foiled by Basil and Dr. Dawson. His lingering hatred lured in the darkness, turning him into a heartless that wanted nothing but revenge.


	6. Chapter 5: Agrabah

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

**_Chapter 5: Agrabah_ **

* * *

Castle Oblivion felt colder. All of Donald's feathers ruffled when they returned through the door. Goofy's ears flopped backward as though there was a breeze. Something moved along the wall in the corner of Sora's eye and he turned to look but all he saw was the regular, boring white wall of the castle. Looking around the room one more time, just in case, he noticed something odd.

He neared the wall, the one that once had the door they had first entered through. The exit hadn't returned, but the wall seemed less solid. Putting his hand on the wall, Sora felt the cold marble under his fingertips. The stone seemed flimsier then that of the other walls, as though it were made from thinner material.

Curious, Sora knocked on the surface. There was an echo.

"That's weird. Was this wall always like this?"

Goofy shrugged. "Maybe it has something to do with all the worlds we've been visiting."

Donald went to the door at the top of the stairs. "Why don't we go back into another world and see if anything has changed when we come back?"

Sora and Goofy agreed, and they went through the door one more time without noticing the green smoke that slithered along the floor of the room. As the door closed behind them, the shadow of a thin man moved along the walls. It laughed without a voice, and then slid under the door, following Sora, Donald and Goofy.

* * *

"Okay, let's try one more time," Oswald said.

Kairi gripped the wand tight in her hand. "I'm ready!"

Oswald positioned her hand higher.

"That's better. Are you thinking of a fire? Feeling the heat from inside your chest?"

"Yes."

"Now concentrate! See it moving toward your hands."

"Got it."

"Now the incantation!"

Kairi lifted the wand in the air like Oswald had instructed, and then swung it down with as much force as she could.

"Fire!"

The wand didn't even spark. Kairi growled.

"Why can't I do it?"

"Magic is tricky to a lot of people. Maybe you're thinking too much. You gotta feel it with your gut."

Kairi sat down. "Things were so much easier when I was ordering Sora and Riku around to do all the work." She grinned sheepishly. "I'm good at giving commands not following them."

"Sounds ta me like you're just lazy."

"So you noticed."

Next to Kairi, Pluto yawned.

"Don't agree with him," Kairi huffed.

Oswald laughed.

Pluto ducked his head, looking at Kairi with guilt stricken puppy-dog eyes.

Unable to resist, Kairi scratched him behind the ear.

"Okay," Kairi stood, "one more time."

She held up her hands, and tried more time to do as Oswald had instructed, but every time she tried to imagine a flame in her chest, tried to move it down her arms and release it from her hands, but there was nothing.

Kairi pouted. "Are you sure I have magic in me?"

Oswald's fur stood on end. "I'm a master mage. I know magic when I see it! Plus you got a lot of light in ya. That automatically means magic."

"Lots of light," Kairi repeated. "You know, on my last journey, my heart was with my friend Sora, and I learned about the worlds through his eyes. The people he met told him about the seven princesses of heart and that I'm one of them. But I don't know what means, or what kind of power I have and...what?"

Oswald closed his mouth but his wide eyes burned into her like the sun on a hot summer day.

"You're a princess of heart, and you're in here? But that's impossible."

"What do you mean?"

Oswald sat down next to Kairi. "Once, long ago, a great man tried to destroy the realm of darkness for good. He bought warriors, mages, and even hunted down all the princesses of heart to battle the darkness here. But the princesses couldn't enter where there was no light, and the darkness fought back. Many of the fighters lost their lives. Some even disappeared into the darkness. The leader was the only one to survive."

"What happened to him?"

Oswald's eyes narrowed. "Fighting the darkness changed him for the worse, and he was imprisoned somewhere no one could enter and escape without a special key."

Kairi closed her eyes, remembering her grandmother's story. Fighting over the light brought darkness into the world, but fighting _against_ the darkness did nothing but bring people pain. She remembered Ansem, and how he had taken over Riku's body. Did that mean that Riku wouldn't be able to fight the darkness? Did he have no choice but to give in?

Kairi rubbed her arms. Even if she found Riku and Sora, would things be the same between the three of them after all that had happened? After Riku had lost his way? Would he even still want to be friends?

She thought about Sora's promise. He swore to come back. He still had her lucky charm, that lazy bum! Plus, Kairi remembered, if Sora had faith in Riku, that he would come back, then Kairi had to believe in him too. There had to be light still in him somewhere, even deep in the darkness.

"You said that the princesses of light couldn't enter here, because they couldn't go where there was no light."

Oswald nodded.

"So, that means there must be a spec of light in here somewhere. Maybe, I can find it. Maybe, that light is the person that wrote the letter I have."

Or maybe it could be Riku. Kairi knew she had to find him. Besides, she thought with a smirk, she owed him a good talking to after all the stupid choices he had made on Sora's last adventure. But how to use her power to find him was the question. Maybe she could feel light nearby?

Kairi looked at Oswald. He was patting Pluto's back with a tiny smile on his face. Carefully, Kairi put her hand on Oswald's shoulder and concentrated.

There was warmth, like the tingling of laughter, that spread all through her chest. That must have been Oswald's light. Kairi pulled her hand back. She had also felt something else, a jolt like a cold rock hitting her skin. Oswald had darkness in him, not as much as the light, but it was there still. It happened so fast that by the time Oswald had felt her hand on him, she had already pulled away.

Kairi didn't have time to answer Oswald's questioning stare. Her mind was already turning. Standing, she closed her eyes and moved away from Oswald and Pluto. She turned in a circle until she felt something soft on her skin. Opening her eyes, she saw that she was facing Oswald again.

"I have an idea."

"Well, let's hear it."

"Move around me. I'm going to see if I can find you with my eyes closed. Oh, and try not to make any sounds."

Oswald patted his foot on the ground. "Soundless walking? That's a rabbit's specialty. Okay, no peeking!"

Closing her eyes again, Kairi concentrated on her ears, her sense of smell, and the feeling of the air around her. The realm of darkness was somehow damp and dry at the same time, the atmosphere didn't have any spice or stink. When she tried to sense a change in the airflow around her, there was nothing, so she tried imagining the joy and excitement she had felt in that split second when she had touched Oswald.

The back of her left ear felt warm. Kairi turned and stopped when her ear no longer tingled. She moved back into her original position, following the sensation with her steps. As she got closer, her body filled with the same tingly sensation, and she to press her teeth together to keep herself from laughing. Kairi reached out with her hands. Her fingers felt warm.

She touched something soft.

Opening her eyes, Kairi wanted to laugh and groan. She hadn't found Oswald, but Pluto wagged his tail excitedly at the fact that she was holding his cheeks. Kairi scratched his muzzle.

"Well, at least I can sense you. Good boy." She moved back, and pointed to the ground. "Stay."

Pluto sat down and didn't move even when Kairi had taken a few steps back. Again she tried to find Oswald. A few more steps and Kairi felt the familiar warmth of light on her toes. As she got closer, the warmth moved up her ankles and legs.

But then it was gone.

Cold needles worked their way up her legs, the warm laughter being replaced by pain and sorrow. The air around her sizzled with sinister energy. Kairi opened her eyes.

Heartless were coming.

The first one appeared at the ground near her feet. Its yellow eyes rolled to pinpoint her. A muscular arm, black as soot, reached out to grab her shoe, claws digging into the material. Kairi slipped her foot out of her shoe, falling backward as the rest of the heartless climbed out of the puddles of darkness on the ground.

Pluto must have deciding that staying wasn't a demand he needed to follow. He raced to Kairi, grabbed the back of her shirt and tried to pull her back, but the heartless that had grabbed her shoe reached out and clamped its claws around her ankle. Kairi screamed, but it only brought the attention of the other heartless.

Neon blue veins pulsed over the heartless' faces and arms as they moved slowly toward Kairi like lions stalking their kill. Pluto jumped over Kairi and bit the heartless that was holding her ankle, but the heartless only pulled Kairi harder. The other heartless moved to converge on Pluto. One more inch and the heartless would be on him. Kairi raised her arm, trying to imagine a fire, reciting the incantation over and over, but the magic refused to appear.

Oswald jumped down in front of her and obliterated a team of heartless with a golden flash of lightning. He raised his wand high, ready to take out the rest, but arms appeared from the ground and grabbed his legs, dragging him down. Kairi tried to reach out and grab him, but the moment her hand shot out, a heartless wrapped its long fingers around it.

Arms mummified her body. Pluto's whining reached her hears but she could no longer turn her head as another heartless wrapped its fingers around her neck. She couldn't breathe; she couldn't say the incantation for fire. Instead of heat, every bit of her body felt cold.

They were melting into the floor, and Kairi felt darkness seep up into her nose and ears until she heard nothing but silence. Kairi was drowning, every part of her body dissolving into an ocean of darkness that was ready to wash her away. Her arms and legs felt like jelly, like she was mixing with the sea of blackness, turning into liquid, liquid, liquid.

Kairi's neck and shoulders ached as she fought against the heartless that tried to push her back down. She wasn't ready to fade away, she was going to go back to the islands with her friends, she was going watch the ocean with them again, and she was ready to bring the full fury of the sea with her.

She pulled out of the heartless swamp just in enough to be able to scream.

"Water!"

A flood washed over her body, making her tumble head over heels underwater before she found herself sitting on the ground, staring at the massive puddle and the writhing, confused, dripping heartless trying to regain their wits. Oswald rose up from the puddle, shaking off the water from his fur.

Without wasting time, he dashed toward Pluto, picked up the dog and pushed Kairi several steps away before he pointed his wand at the heartless and shouted.

"Thundaga!"

Conducted by the water, blue and gold lightening cracked in the air and over the ground, charring the heartless. When the flashes faded, the heartless were gone.

Before Kairi could even catch her breath, Oswald jumped up and thumped her so hard on the back that she bent forward.

"That was amazing! You did it! Told you ya got magic!"

Kairi looked at the puddles of water, watching as they slowly evaporated.

"I did that? Cool!"

She grabbed Oswald's hands spun him around, laughing.

"That was so close! We would've been swallowed!"

Oswald laughed back, his ears flopping in the air. "We were almost got taken over by darkness!"

"This is crazy!"

"I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay!"

Kairi slowed down and put Oswald back on his feet. Once he was no longer swaying from dizziness, Oswald put his wand in her hand.

"You still need to practice."

"Right." Kairi picked up her shoe and put it back on.

"And we still have a lot of searching to do."

"Okay. But, I'm still going to keep my senses open, see if I can find any light. Let's go."

* * *

Of all the places that Castle's Oblivion's door spit them out into, did it have to be in the middle of a desert? Sora, Donald and Goofy trudged over the sand dunes, sweating and swearing as the heat bore down on them like an evil child with a magnifying glass.

Sora licked his lips, but his throat was too dry to produce much moisture. "I think I know where we are. It's flat and immense and the heat is intense."

"It's barbaric," Donald huffed.

"It's Agrabah."

Goofy perked up. "Sure hope we get ta see Aladdin and Jasmine."

"If we ever find our way out of this desert," Donald grumbled.

Jiminy hoped onto Sora's shoulder.

"I charted maps in my journal when we were here the first time. Let me see if I can direct us."

Sora, Donald and Goofy all stared at him, making the poor cricket raise his shoulders nervously.

"Is something wrong?"

"You make maps?" Donald said.

"That's amazing, Jiminy!" Goofy smiled. "What else have been keeping track of in there?"

Jiminy beamed. "Well, other then the chronicles of our journey, I also keep track of treasures we find, scores on any games we play, and the number of heartless we defeat. I thought it would be good data for His Majesty."

At the mention of the King, Donald and Goofy deflated.

"I hope we can get to the realm of darkness to find him soon. I'm so worried," Goofy said.

Donald slumped forward. "But you heard was Alice said. Maybe it's not the best idea."

"Come on guys! I'm sure we came back to Agrabah for a reason. Maybe we should ask another princess of light what she thinks."

"I don't know, Sora." Jiminy said. "I know we want to find our friends, but the King wouldn't want us to open the door to darkness after we have just closed it. Even if the door in Castle Oblivion does send us out into the dark realm, we can't be certain that nothing else will go through it."

Sora thought about Destiny Islands, about how one wrong decision from Riku, how opening one door, had destroyed their entire home. Jiminy had a point, but still, he couldn't just abandon his best friend. He still needed to apologize to Riku, for putting their rivalry over Kairi first, for not being a better friend and noticing that Riku was getting deeper into darkness.

Sora felt his chest tighten, like a needle was pressed into his heart. Would he have to decide between keeping the worlds safe as keyblade master, or his best friend?

"Hmm, according to my map, Abrabah should be that way." Jiminy pointed.

"Oh boy! We get to see Aladdin and Genie again!"

"And no Jafar this time," Donald added.

Sora shook his head. He had to have faith that he would find Riku again. If he could reunite with Aladdin, after the worlds were divided from each other, then he was sure he would find his best friend.

They walked for so long under the blistering heat that Donald casted blizzard spells over and over to cool down his feathers and provide water for Sora and Goofy. Jiminy assured them that they were going in the right direction, but still Sora couldn't help but doubt, until several men on camels passed them by. Then they walked over a mountain-sized dune and, on the other, the towers of Agrabah's palace rose up in the distance.

When they entered the city, it was nothing but bustling noise and a whiplash of color as the outskirts of the town were filled to bursting with merchants and stands filled with exotic fruit, fresh fish, sugar dates and peas, pretty necklaces for pretty ladies, all manner of carpets and silk, and the smell of sweet spice that made the desert heat just a bit more bearable.

Goofy's stomach growled and Donald excitedly ran to an apple merchant and then stuffed his face with three whole apples before he even thought about sharing with Sora and Goofy. While eating his apple, Sora looked around the bazaar.

It was so different then the city they had visited the first time they had come to Agrabah. Instead of a deserted town with only heartless to fill the empty space, now he saw veiled women carrying pots on their heads, merchants at their stalls restocking and haggling with customers, shoppers jostling through the crowds with their purchases stuffed under their arms, and camels that were eating hay by their caravans.

Sora looked at the wares at the stand next to him and saw all kinds of shawls, and beaded necklaces. Sora nearly chocked on his apple. There was a thalassa shell in among the beads. He leaned closer to the caravan, hardly believing his eyes. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out Kairi's good luck charm. The shells on the charm matched the color and shape of the one on the merchant's table.

"Where did you get that?"

The old man behind the counter pointed to the shell. "Ah, I see you're interested in the exceptionally rare. This shell was brought to me by one of the traveling caravans that venture over the sands that surround Agrabah. It's a mysterious thing, isn't it? I've never seen a shell this colorful. Think of the jewelry it will make."

"Where did the caravan travelers find it?"

"Lots of mysterious things can be found in Agrabah's deserts."

"Really? Where in the desert?"

The merchant began to tap the table. "Young man, I don't know where my suppliers get their items. Do you want the shell or not?"

"Do you know where the supplier is? Can I talk to him?"

The merchant smiled. "Of course I do, but that information doesn't come cheap."

"Really?" Sora opened his munny pouch with a huff. "How much do you want?"

"I don't want munny. I'd like for you to find me a rare jewel the likes of which I have never seen. I'll even throw in the shell as a bonus."

Donald came over to the stand and gave the merchant a glare. "Hey, you cheapskate!"

The merchant's smile became sweeter. "That will be two jewels, young man. Find them, and I'll tell you where to find the caravan."

Donald fumed. "Hey!"

"Make that three jewels."

Donald's face turned red, his entire body shook. Goofy and Sora grabbed him and dragged him away before he could throw a temper tantrum the size of a volcanic eruption. When they were several stalls away from the merchant, and Jiminy had finally managed to calm Donald down, Sora called for a huddle.

"How is there a thalassa shell in this world? Agrabah doesn't have any oceans, and I've only ever seen those shells on my island. I didn't even see any of those shells in Atlantica."

"Do ya think that Agrabah is connected to Destiny Islands somehow?"

"Maybe the worlds aren't as divided from each other as we think," Donald said. He angrily tapped his foot. "But we're not going to get any information out of that rotten merchant unless we pay him."

"Hey, fellers, what about the Cave of Wonders? Can't we get a couple of jewels there?"

Jiminy popped his head out of Sora's hood and opened his journal. "There was a lot of treasure in the Cave of Wonders the last time we were there. But keep in mind; Jafar's lamp might also be there. It's dangerous. We might need some backup."

Sora couldn't help but grin. "Now we really don't have any excuse not to go see Aladdin. Let's go find him!"

Finding Aladdin's house was an easy thing. Finding Aladdin himself, however, was like trying to catch air. Sora, Donald and Goofy had gone through the entire town before they arrived at the palace gates to see if they could talk to Jasmine instead. The burly, bearded guard standing at the gate glared at them when they neared.

Feeling a little nervous, Sora motioned for Donald and Goofy to stand back as he neared the gate.

"Excuse me? We'd like to enter the palace to see Princess Jasmine. I'm her friend, Sora."

"And I'm Captain Razoul and I say no one gets into the palace without an invitation."

"If you tell her I'm here, I'm sure she'll let me in."

Captain Razoul smiled. For a tall, brutish looking guy, he had surprisingly straight teeth. He bowed.

"Oh I see. A friend of the princess eh? Well in that case."

He grabbed Sora's shirt and lifted him up into the air.

"Do you take me for a fool, boy? No one enters the palace."

Sora kicked and summoned his keyblade in his hand, glaring down at the guard. "I'm warning you, if you don't put me down."

"Oh, of course, how rude of me."

Sora felt his stomach flip when the guard threw him backward. He braced to hit the sand, but landed on something soft instead. Blinking, Sora looked down at Donald and Goofy. Their eyes rolled in their heads.

Still dizzy, but the first to always worry, Goofy reached up to pat Sora's head. "You okay, Sora?"

"Thanks for catching me, guys."

Donald shook his head, finally recovering. Back on his feet, he jumped up and down with his fists in the air.

"I've had it up to here with this big, dumb, rude, waaaah!" Donald pulled back his sleeves and charged at Captain Razoul.

The guard responded by unsheathing his scimitar and pointing it at Donald. Raising his staff in the air, Donald's body buzzed with electricity. Razoul swung his sword. Goofy leapt forward and managed to catch Donald just before he could become duck kabob, but Razoul's sword still swung down. It didn't hit Donald and Goofy.

Sora stood between his friends and the guard, his keyblade pushing the sword back.

"What's with you?"

"I'm merely doing my job as a palace guard. I've already failed this city once, I will not allow anyone to bother the royal family again, and that includes you, street rat!"

"Come on, Razoul," said a familiar voice. "Do you really have to be so suspicious of every new face in Agrabah? It's kind of sad."

Razoul's face wrinkled at the speaker. He put away his sword and glared at someone over Sora's shoulder. Sora didn't get the change to turn around, because at that very moment something soft and fluffy landed on his head. Yelping in surprise, he only relaxed when a monkey's upside down face appeared in front of his eyes.

"Abu?"

"The only sad thing here," Razoul growled, "is that the princess still has you in her good graces, street rat."

"You'll never change eh? Stubborn old guard."

Sora finally got a hold of the monkey, transferring him to his shoulder just as the guard stomped away from the gate. Turning, Sora saw Aladdin, with a very smug look on his face, shrugging as the guard harangued on and on about how lawless outlaws like him did not belong in the castle, much less in the company of the princess of Agrabah.

"Bla, bla, bla. Razoul, seriously," Aladdin put a hand on the guard's shoulder, "take it easy. You're going to burst a blood vessel."

Like brushing off a fly, Razoul slapped Aladdin's hand off his shoulder. "The sooner you get out of my sight the better, street rat."

"Oh, I will. Just open the gate and let my friends pass."

At first, Sora thought he wasn't going to do it. Razoul's face was puffy red with so much annoyance that Sora worried that the guard would throw Aladdin into the dirt. Finally, Razoul whistled to the other guards high up on the wall. The gates groaned open and Sora hustled Donald and Goofy through before the guards could change their minds. Aladdin strolled in easily behind them, bowing to Razoul for good measure.

When the gates closed behind them, Abu climbed off Sora's shoulder and landed on Aladdin's head.

"You picked the wrong guard to be polite to." Aladdin held out his fist. "It's been a while, Sora."

Bumping fists with Aladdin, Sora's cheeks hurt from grinning.

"It's a good thing you were walking by."

"You got that right."

"Hey, don't forget us," Donald whined.

Aladdin lead the way through the outer gardens of the palace into the white, marble interior. "No way I'd be forgetting you," he said. "What are you doing here? Jasmine said that the worlds were divided again. Is something going on?"

By the time they had finished explaining, Aladdin had led them through the palace and into a throne room so pearly white and spacious that for a moment, Sora's head spun. All the way at the other side of the throne room was a single throne. A lovely young woman with midnight-black hair was sitting in it, reading a scroll so long that it rolled off her blue, puffy pants and onto the floor.

As Aladdin neared, she looked up, smiled, and handed the scroll to the ornate carpet that had been floating at her side. The carpet's corner tassel moved like a hand, and it accepted the scroll before floating upright to stand like a person.

The girl came forward with her arms outstretched.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy! It's so good to see you!"

The trio bowed. Even Jiminy, back on Sora's shoulder, removed his hat and bent forward. "Your Highness, Princess Jasmine."

Jasmine huffed. "Stand please. I should be the one bowing to you, after all you've done to get me back home and after you helped Aladdin defeat Jafar."

"All in a day's work," said Sora, straightening. "Seems Agrabah is back to normal now."

"Of course. There hasn't been a heartless attack since you were here last. And Aladdin and Carpet have been keeping a watchful eye on the city."

"What about Genie?"

Aladdin chuckled. "He's off, exploring the world, enjoying the great outdoors."

"That's great," Goofy said.

"So," Jasmine began, "are you on another journey? What brings you here?"

Sora dug into his pocket and took out Kairi's good luck charm. "Well, actually. We wanted to get your opinion on something, as a Princess of Light."

As Sora explained, Jasmine's expression hardened.

"I can understand that you want to find your friend, but I agree with Alice. It's risky."

"But there's so much we don't know about the heartless and the darkness. Can it really be all bad?"

Goofy tapped his forehead thoughtfully. "Gee, if it weren't so dark at night, we wouldn't be able ta sleep, so it can't be all bad, I think."

Donald tapped his foot. "I don't think that's what Sora meant."

"But Goofy still has a point. Darkness exists in every heart. It's in every world too. How do we keep the darkness in but the heartless out?"

Jasmine shook her head. "Sora, as the keyblade master, you should know more then anyone how dangerous heartless can be, especially to a world out there with a keyhole that hasn't been locked yet." Jasmine's eyes became soft. "It know it's a hard choice to make, between your friends and your duty. Think about all the worlds you may be putting at risk."

"But I've beaten back the darkness before. I can take it down again. _We_ can take it down again. Don't you believe in us?"

Jasmine smiled despite herself. "I do, but just because you can doesn't mean you should."

"She's very wise, Sora," Jiminy said. "I think you should heed her advice."

Disappointment bubbled in Sora's gut. His logic warred with his heart. Jasmine and Alice were both right, but if he didn't keep going, how else was he going to find Riku and the king. Did he really have no choice to abandon them? He had sworn that he would keep searching until he had reunited with both Riku and Kairi, but, when he faced the issue truthfully, he knew that Kairi wouldn't approve of him releasing so many heartless into the worlds just to get Riku back.

Yet he couldn't help but feel as though it were his fault that Riku had sunk so deep into the darkness in the first place. If only Sora had tried harder to reach him, to support him. If only he hadn't turned against him back when they reunited inside Monstro the whale, if only he hadn't been trying to one up him on the islands. When had they gone from friends to rivals?

"Sora? You okay?"

Sora looked up at Aladdin and pasted a smile on his face. "I'm just fine. Jasmine's right. I won't open the door to the realm of darkness. A-anyway, the three of us have to go to the Cave of Wonders for a bit. See ya."

Before Donald and Goofy could question him, Sora dragged them out of the throne room and all the way back to the palace courtyard.

"Hey," Donald protested, "what about the thalassa shell?"

Goofy pouted. "And what about asking for Aladdin's help in the Cave of Wonders?"

"We're going there alone."

Goofy put a nervous hand under his chin. "We're not going with our friends?"

"We'll be fine on our own."

"Sora? Are you okay?" Donald said.

"It's nothing."

"I want to find the king too," Donald said, "but Jasmine and Alice both have a point. Maybe we should just try to find a way out of Castle Oblivion and see if we can find Pluto. We still haven't read the king's letter. For all we know the king could be out of the realm of darkness by now."

Sora felt the heat rising in his chest. What about Riku? He turned around and opened his mouth but then a shadow passed over his head. The carpet from the throne room hovered down from sky, Aladdin stood on top of it. As the rug came down to the ground, Aladdin came between Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"You three really didn't think you'd go to the Cave of Wonders without me and Carpet did you?"

Sora couldn't think of an excuse fast enough. "Huh? But-"

"You'll need Carpet's help to get through the desert. Hop on."

Donald and Goofy didn't hesitate. Sora got on Carpet as well, but as they flew over the desert, the ambivalence still gnawed at his heart. After everything he had done to save the worlds on their previous adventures, it annoyed him that Alice and Jasmine didn't believe he could take down anything the realm of darkness had to throw at them. Yet, at the same time, he had to remember that both princesses had seen the terror of what darkness could do first hand.

He wouldn't wish what had happened to Hollow Bastion to happen to Agrabah, or London, but didn't they trust him when he said he would be careful and that there was no way he would allow the worlds to fall into ruin?

By the time they reached the Cave of Wonders, night had fallen, and Sora hadn't come up with any answers. He caught Donald and Goofy staring at him from over their shoulders from time to time during the carpet ride. Now wasn't the time to be upset. They still had the mystery of the thalassa shell to figure out. If Agrabah and the Destiny Islands were connected somehow, Sora wondered if he could go home, at least for a little while. Kairi was there. Maybe her advice, as a princess of heart, would be different.

Soothed by the thought, Sora jumped off Carpet with the rest of his friends. The desert sands were still and silent. The air had a chill that bit into Sora's skin. A moment later, a breeze sent needles of pain through his body and made his teeth chatter. The wind pushed the sands, swirling them up into a tornado.

Sora watched as the sands stacked on top of each other, molding into a mountain. The winds slowed down, and the tornado slowly faded away. A giant tiger's head rose up from the sand. The face of the tiger leered down at them with golden eyes, its massive mouth opened wide.

All though Sora had been in the Cave of Wonders before, he still felt a little nervous going down the tiger's mouth every time he neared it. As they rose up onto the Tiger's lips and looked down into its throat, a set of stairs appeared. An orange torch-like glow lighted the walls.

They descended the stairs. The long hallway eventually opened up to underground cave full of raised platforms, traps, and bottomless pits. Sora, Donald and Goofy kept their guard up, walking behind Aladdin and Carpet with their weapons raised but no heartless jumped at them.

"By the way," Aladdin said as they ventured deeper into the cave, "you never told me why you had to come here."

Sora explained about the thalassa shell and the caravan merchant that had found it.

"That's strange. How did something that belongs in your world end up here?"

"Maybe the worlds are connected in some way after all. I mean," Sora put a hand on his chest, "if our hearts are connected, maybe our worlds can be too?"

"Maybe our connection is what is bringing our worlds closer together," Aladdin winked.

"Ayuck! It would be nice if the worlds came together. Then we can visit our friends whenever we like."

Sora felt his spirits brighten a little. "Yeah. That would cool."

They passed through an archway and came out into the deepest part of the Cave of Wonders. As they entered the next cavern, a feeling of awe washed over them. Though it wasn't the first time Sora had seen the treasure room, it still blew his mind whenever they entered. The entire cavern was painted gold. Mountains of coins, gems, jewelry, golden plates, goblets, even giant vases covered every inch of the floor.

The sparkle of the treasure reflected in Donald's eyes and he couldn't help reaching out to try to grab a handful like a child being tempted to steal cookies from the jar.

"Donald," Sora and Goofy scolded.

Donald turned around quickly from a treasure pile, his hands behind his back, giving them a sheepish look. "I'm just looking for the jewel that merchant might like."

Sora loomed over Donald. "Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I do this." Sora grabbed Donald by his feet and held him upside down, shaking him.

"Ah! Put me down!"

Coins, jewels and anything he could get he grubby little hands on, tumbled out of Donald's pockets. Sora was amazed the little duck had managed to stash so much treasure in such a short amount of time. Now that was talent.

Donald wailed, trying to grab all the gold and stuff it back in his pockets, but Sora's shakes made it hard to catch the treasure out of the air.

"Stop it! My treasure!"

"We don't need it! We have tons of munny! Stop being so greedy!"

While Sora was busy trying to convince Donald that they couldn't just take all the gold in the cave with them, Goofy and Aladdin were distracted by Carpet. As soon as they had entered the treasure room, the carpet had flown out of sight and was diving into the mountains of gold. Finally, Carpet resurfaced from under the treasure and flew across the air to land at Goofy's feet.

Carpet was holding three star-shaped rubies in its tassel. Brushing the rubies off, Carpet gave them to Goofy.

"Gosh. It's pretty. Thank you, Carpet."

Sora, still holding Donald upside down by one leg, walked over to inspect the jewels. Bright red and glittering, he could see his multiple reflections in the jewels' facetted surface.

"Wow. I'm sure that merchant won't be able to say no to this."

"Can you put me down now," Donald growled.

"Sure, except this time, you're carrying Jiminy."

Donald groaned, but didn't complain when Jiminy moved to sit on his hat. Sora was sure the cricket could keep Donald in line, at least until they left the treasure room. Goofy pocketed the gems and the group turned to leave. Just outside the archway, Sora saw something move over the treasure in the corner of his eye.

"Did you see that?"

Donald put a hand over his eyes, looking around. "See what?"

"There," Aladdin pointed.

A shadow moved over the treasure.

"A heartless?" Goofy said.

Aladdin whistled and Carpet put itself flat on the ground. Jumping on top of Carpet, he waved for Sora and the others to climb on. "If it is a heartless, we have to get rid of it. Jasmine's been working so hard to get Agrabah back to normal. I don't want all her hard work to go to waste."

They flew over the gold, keeping their eyes peeled for shadows where there shouldn't be. Then Carpet flew deeper into the caves, beyond the treasure, through a dark blue tube, and out into a gloomy cavern with a lake. Carpet lay flat on the ground, allowing Sora, Donald, Goofy and Aladdin off. Once free from his burden, Carpet bounced up and down, pointing with its tassel.

Following the direction Carpet had indicated, Sora saw a shadow slithering along the cave floor. It wasn't the familiar shape of a heartless. In fact, it was the shape of a tall, thin man in a top hat. The shadow moved toward the lake, over the stepping-stones toward a high pillar of rocks stacked one on top of each other.

Aladdin looked up at the top of the rock pillar. At the summit, there was a raised stone under a spotlight. "No! That's where the lamp is!"

Sora felt all of his muscles seize. "Jafar's lamp?"

Aladdin hopped onto Carpet. "He's a genie now remember! This is where he would be kept!"

The four friends jumped back on Carpet and flew through the sky toward the top of the pillar. Something flashed, and a ball of green light flew right at them. Carpet swerved out of the way, but its fabric caught fire. Donald and Goofy tried to pat down the flame, but the fire only grew, the green flames burning Carpet's back end to cinders.

Unable to fly, it floated weakly toward the lake. The water doused the fire. The four friends swam back to the bottom of the stone pillar. Donald and Goofy dragged Carpet out of the water.

The poor rug was half singed. It lay flat on the ground, trembling. Goofy held one of its tassels.

"Are you okay, Carpet?"

The rug shook its top half, no.

Donald pointed to the top of the pillar. "We'll stay here with Carpet. You two go and stop that shadow!"

Sora and Aladdin nodded and raced up the stairs, but when they reached the top it wasn't a shadow looming over Jafar's black lamp. It was a suave looking man. Leaning casually on his cane, the man tossed the lamp up and down in his free hand.

"Gentleman. You're late for the reunion party."

"Whoever you are, you'd better put that back where you found it," Aladdin warned. "You have no idea how dangerous that is."

"Now, do you really think that's fair, deriding my knowledge like that?" He brought his other hand closer to the lamp.

Sora, didn't wait, hurling his keyblade through the air at the man's hand. Something black and swirly appeared in front of the man. It hit the keyblade in midair, sending it hurtling down into the lake below. Sora raised his hand to call his keyblade back, but then felt himself falling backward onto his behind. Aladdin came down next to him. From underneath his legs, Sora spotted a shadow slithering across the stone floor, the same shadow that had crossed the rocks down below. The shadow moved across the platform, attaching to the tall man's feet.

Mama Odie's warning echoed in Sora's head.

"A shadow man? Are you the one that cursed Naveen and Tiana?"

The shadow man tipped his hat. "Dr. Facilier if you please. Enchanté."

He rubbed the lamp.

The cave rumbled as red smoke exploded from the lamp's tip. The smoke spread outward like a fan, lightning flashing within it. A sinister laugher echoed in the cave, making the lake water rise and fall in harsh waves below.

"Ah, Jafar," sang Dr. Facilier, "it's your lucky day. For you have a master with wishes that align with yours."

Aladdin regained his feet and jumped forward to try and snatch the lamp from Dr. Facilier's hand but the shadow man was thin and hard to catch, easily fox-trotting away from Aladdin's lunges.

"For my first wish," Dr. Facilier aimed his cane low, tripping Aladdin, "let's go terrorize Agrabah."

Sora wasn't fast enough, and neither was the blizzard spell he threw at Dr. Facilier. The man, his shadow, the lamp, and Jafar's red smoke all vanished, but not without leaving something behind. A pool of darkness remained where Dr. Facilier had stood, and out it rose a black, feminine shape.

Then, yellow eyes opened wide, a heart shaped symbol appearing on the creature's abdomen. It stood tall, with long antenna like pigtails and pink ribbons that extended from its slender body. Without warning, it raised its leg and aimed a kick at Sora's face.

He ducked, but not fast enough. The heartless' attack connected with his temple. Sora fell backward, the world spinning in front of his eyes. From far away he heard the sound of punches and kicks and the slicing of a sword cutting through the air, but his head was too full of spirals to understand it.

There was a hand on his shoulder, and then a warm feeling that trickled down from the top of his head to his toes and suddenly the world stopped spinning.

"Sora, move!"

A foot was coming down on top of his head. Sora rolled backward and then nearly lost his balance at the edge of the platform. Aladdin reached out, grabbed his hand and steadied him, but the heartless was still attacking. It threw out its arm, and the ribbon attached to it looped around Sora's wrist. Before he could even try to counterattack, the heartless hurled the ribbon into the air, sending Sora flying like a fish on a hook.

Upside down and disoriented, Sora saw Aladdin and the heartless clashing, sword versus kick, down below. His keyblade appeared in his hand, and as Sora fell, he kept his eyes locked on the pink ribbon at his wrist.

Red fire pooled at the tip of his keyblade. Sora wrapped the ribbon around the shaft of his weapon and then fired.

"Firaga!"

The ribbon ignited, the fire following the cloth all the way down to its owner. Too busy engaging Aladdin, the heartless flinched when the fire spell hit it square on the back. It pulled its ribbon back to it, and Sora fell, the water down below ready to pull him in.

He landed on something soft, but still he dunked into the lake. Sora resurfaced fast enough to see Carpet struggling to stay afloat. He reached out and grabbed a handful of Carpet's material before it could sink below the lake's surface.

Looking up, he spotted Aladdin, still fighting the heartless. The heartless blazed from Sora's fire spell, but it wasn't slowing down. Its movements were graceful and precise even as its ribbons began to disintegrate.

Donald and Goofy were running up the steps to help Aladdin but weren't able to reach him. The heartless was throwing its fiery ribbons at them, keeping them at bay.

"It's keeping us separate on purpose," Sora whispered.

With Carpet in his hand, he swam back to the opening of the cave and screamed.

"Guys! Don't fight it! Run!"

Donald and Goofy were the first to react, racing back toward the opening of the cave. Aladdin, still the closest the heartless, was able to summersault out of the way of the heartless' kick and then race back toward the bottom. Once he reunited with Donald and Goofy, the heartless backed off, keeping its distance, its ribbons getting closer to its body.

It looked up, saw Sora alone at the cave's entrance and charged.

Exactly like Sora wanted.

"Carpet," Sora whispered, "I know you're tired, but do you think you have enough in you to do one more thing?"

Carpet gave him a thumb's up.

"Okay, when the heartless get's close, I want you to trip it."

Sora let go of Carpet, saw the rug lie flat against the floor, raised his keyblade and felt the chill of his ice spell freezing the air around him. The heartless was several feet away, its ribbon stretching out to reach him.

"Blizaga!"

A torpedo of ice flew toward the heartless. It jumped over the attack and landed right on top of Carpet. Sora ducked its swing and then Carpet rolled out from underneath it, making the heartless reel backward and off balance for only a second, but it was enough time for Goody's shield to smack it from behind, followed by Donald's second fire spell, which distracted the heartless just enough for Aladdin to get close behind it and slice it with his sword, leaving Sora to deliver the finishing blow from the front.

He clocked the heartless right the head and it crumbled to the ground, leaving nothing but dark ash and flames. Sora reached down and carefully rolled up Carpet in his arms.

"Thanks. For saving me from bellyflopping dead into the lake, and for giving it your all."

Carpet waved him off, as if to say "no problem."

"I'm sorry," Sora tucked the rug under his arm. "Will Carpet stay broken like this?"

"Carpet should be fine as soon as Genie comes back," Aladdin answered, "but right now we have to get to Agrabah. There's no telling what Jafar and that Dr. Facilier guy will do.

Goofy reached into his pocket and pulled out four glass bottles. He handed each member of the party a potion.

"You might need these, fellars. That was a tough battle."

After drinking down the warm, sweet liquid, the group raced to the entrance of the Cave of Wonders. Sora hoped that Agrabah would still be standing by the time they reached it.

* * *

"Water!"

A torrent washed away the heartless in Kairi's path, sending them flying into the dark abyss down below, but another heartless troupe appeared in its place. Kairi whistled, and Oswald sprang forward from behind her, barbecuing the heartless with a thunder spell.

Oswald and Kairi gave each other a double high-five.

"You've gotten a lot better at channeling magic," Oswald said.

"I still feel like I still have a long way to go. If you weren't here with me, I don't know if I could fight off all these heartless by myself. They just keep coming." Kairi sighed. "I feel like we've been fighting the same ones over and over."

"We probably are."

"What do you mean?"

"Without a keyblade, we can never stop them. We can only keep them away for a little while, because they will spawn again and again. I know I've fought the same heartless a bunch of times."

"There must be a really important reason you're in here."

"There is. I'm also looking for someone."

"They must be special."

Oswald looked at his wand, his eyes softening. "She is."

Kairi leaned down so that she was looking straight into Oswald's eyes. A sly smile spread across her face. "She?"

Oswald's cheeks turned pink. "W-we should keep going. Do you sense light anywhere?"

"Come on, Ozzie. Don't change the subject! I want to know about this special lady."

Oswald's ears sprang back up, his black fur standing on end. "Ozzie?"

"Haven't I earned the nickname level of friendship yet?"

"Not until you've mastered the water spell."

Kairi poked him on the nose. "Come on. I'm going to keep asking about her until you tell me."

Oswald jumped backward and began tapping his foot on the ground. "No."

"Okay, I'll make you a deal. I'll stop asking about the mystery lady if you tell me one thing about her."

Oswald narrowed his eyes. "Really?"

"Promise." Kairi held up her pinky.

Oswald wrapped his pinky around hers. "One thing? It can be anything?"

"Yup. One."

"I'm not leaving the realm of darkness until I find her."

"Hey! That doesn't count! That's more about you."

"You said it could be anything." Oswald winked. "Now it's your turn to share."

Kairi reached out to pinch Oswald's cheek but then pulled her hand back. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling something tingly in her toes. Oswald stood alert, looking around, searching for heartless. When none came, he walked over to Kairi and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Kairi? What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just have a weird feeling."

"Like what?"

Kairi tried thinking of words to explain. It was as though she had remembered something scary, some deep, dark, night terror that made her snap awake at night, but she didn't know what. It as just a feeling, like she had gone days without sleep, or felt a weakness in her bones that said something had happened that wasn't supposed to. She had felt this way before, once, when the islands were being destroyed.

"It's like, I'm tired all of a sudden. Like something, somewhere is taking away all my strength."

"What do you think caused it?"

The words she spoke hadn't come from her mind, hadn't been there consciously. She felt them in her heart.

"Somewhere, in the realm of light, an evil wish was made."

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal:** _

Aladdin (First Appeared in Aladdin, 1992): A quick witted, agile and optimistic citizen of Agrabah. He is dedicated to helping Jasmine put Agrabah back together again after Jafar and the heartless' attack, but is always willing to join Sora on a little adventure. Aladdin is kind and a team player, always willing to help others in need.

Captain Razoul (First Appeared in Aladdin, 1992): Captain of the guard for the Royal Family of Agrabah. Razoul is a stubborn man that judges a person based on their status. Despite his black and white view of justice, he is a loyal guard.

Princess Jasmine (First Appeared in Aladdin, 1992): Princess of Agrabah and one of the seven princesses of the purest heart, Jasmine has taken over ruling since losing her father at Jafar's hands. Highly intelligent and independent, Jasmine is not the type to let others order her around or decide what's best for her kingdom. She is able to see a plan from many angles and gives Sora some wise advice about his responsibility as keyblade master.

Abu (First Appeared in Aladdin, 1992): A monkey who's Aladdin's right hand pal. He loves treasure so make sure he isn't stealing anything he isn't supposed to.

Carpet (First Appeared in Aladdin, 1992): An enchanted Carpet from the cave of wonders. Loyal and brave, Carpet assists Aladdin and Jasmine in taking care of Agrabah and occasionally takes the two out on a romantic evening.

Dr. Facilier (First Appeared in The Princess and the Frog, 2009): A witch doctor with control over the shadows. He's as smooth as he is devious. His shadow is something to watch out for, as is his mysterious knowledge about other worlds.


	7. Chapter 6: The Counter Spell

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

**_Chapter 6: The Counter Spell_ **

* * *

From far away, Agrabah looked like a giant had stomped on everything except the palace. Darkness oozed from the rubble. Black shadows chipped off cracked walls and broken pots, like ash after a fire. Sora, Donald and Goofy walked behind Aladdin, their eyes wide at the state of the city. Of all the worlds they had been to, none of them, not even Hollow Bastion had gotten that level of destruction.

As they walked deeper into the ruins, a cry ripped through the air. Rushing toward the noise, they spotted a woman and a child, cowering in the middle of a group of heartless. The creatures were peeling off the walls and the floor, creeping closer to the mother and her son. She shielded him with her body, and the heartless pounced.

Without waiting, Sora and Donald stretched Carpet between them and used it as a slingshot to send Goofy flying through the air. He got between the civilians and the heartless just in time to protect himself and the victims with his shield. Confused, the heartless didn't see Sora, Donald, and Aladdin creep up behind them. Donald fried the farthest heartless with fire magic, while Aladdin and Sora made quick work with the others, slashing them in half.

Once the danger had passed, Goofy checked on the mother and son.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes red with unshed tears.

Aladdin knelt down and put his hand on the boy's head. "You're safe now."

The child nodded at him, too stunned to speak.

"Can you tell us what happened here?"

The mother's voice shook as she spoke. "A red storm cloud crept over the city, and the next thing we know, those creatures are appearing out of thin air, destroying everything and everyone. The guards tried to save as many people as they could, tried to get them to the palace, but, we-"

She broke down into tears, squeezing her son's shoulders.

"Everything's okay now," Sora said, "we'll get you to the palace."

"But there might be more people in the city that need help," Goofy said.

Donald put up his hand, catching the group's attention. "Let's split up. Goofy and I will search the city. You two, get to the palace and see what's going on."

Donald handed Carpet to Sora.

"I think you should get Carpet someplace safe too."

Without wasting time, Goofy and Donald raced into the dilapidated city while Aladdin and Sora carefully guided the mother and son toward the palace. Heartless popped out of the air the further they walked. The darkness was thickest near the castle, blocking out the sun. Agrabah had gone from sweltering heat to freezing cold in minutes, but still Sora and Aladdin battled wave after wave of heartless while defending the civilians at the same time.

Just a few streets away from the gates of the palace, an army of heartless stood in their path. Aladdin told the mother and son to find a place to hide as they approached the army. The heartless twitched as the got closer, as if sensing danger. They stood with swords in their hands like a brigade of bandits ready to terrorize anyone still unlucky enough to cross their path.

Civilians cowered in front of the palace gates. Standing between the terrified citizens and the heartless, were Razoul and his men. A heartless jumped at Razoul and he defeated it with his scimitar, but the rest of the heartless swarmed at him, knocking him down, and then turning their attack on his guards.

The people cried out, covering their faces with their arms. Sora summoned up all the magical power he had in him, feeling electricity zing inside his bones. He grabbed Aladdin's arm and then threw his keyblade behind the two of them.

"Thundaga!"

The spell rocketed them forward at breakneck speed. Sora screamed over the wind.

"Get ready!"

Next to him, Aladdin grit his teeth, concentrating hard on the enemies.

They flashed through the heartless, gutting anything with sword and keyblade before they stopped inches in front of the crowd. Completely winded from the attack, Aladdin and Sora fell over, gasping.

"Did we get them?"

Aladdin rolled over, a weak smile on his face. "Yeah. But don't ever shoot me that fast through the air again."

"Deal."

Razoul, now free from all the heartless, stomped over to stand over them.

"Explain this street rat!"

"Explain what?" Aladdin flipped back on his feet. "How we just saved you, your men and all these people?"

"What? Are you expecting a thank you? For all I know, you caused all this!"

Sora's fury propelled him to his feet. "Hey, you big, dumb bum!"

"Forget it, Sora. Some people are too stubborn to change." Aladdin glared at Razoul. "Instead of picking a fight with me, maybe you should get these people to safety."

"I don't take orders from you," Razoul growled. "Men! Get these people to safety. And you two: go and clean up whatever mess you unleashed."

"One more thing, Razoul. There's a mother and son back there."

Razoul gave Aladdin a seething look, but went after the mother and her child all the same.

As quickly as they could, Aladdin and Sora herded the people into the palace. The gates had been ripped open, the inner gardens of the palace crackling with fire. Just as Sora and Aladdin reached the doors that led deeper into the palace, a horde of heartless popped right out of the air.

Sora readied his weapon, counting the number of heartless' emblems on each enemy. He jumped in the air and smacked his keyblade down on three heartless at once. Aladdin followed his lead and then the two of them danced, back to back, hacking and slashing heartless as they moved like a spinning top.

The last heartless fell and Sora, Aladdin, the civilians and the guards entered the palace. Despite all the destruction outside, the inside of the palace remained untouched and clean. They burst into the throne room, which was full to the brim with civilians. Jasmine was going around the room, soothing people with a smile even though her face was grey with exhaustion, and her legs trembled with every step.

Aladdin reached her in seconds.

"Are you all right?"

When Jasmine spoke, her voice came out in gasps. "Holding back the darkness is draining. Jafar and some thin man with a shadow have been attacking the castle for hours." She swayed, moments away from losing her balance.

The castle rumbled above, causing an echo of unease to ripple through the people. Razoul and his guards worked to keep the peace while Aladdin let Jasmine lean on him as he guided her to the throne to sit down.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up," Jasmine panted. "It's so much harder to keep the darkness at bay alone."

"You're not alone," Sora said. "We just have to go out there and take out Jafar and Dr. Facilier."

He raised his keyblade in the air and chanted. "Curaga."

Three bellflowers appeared in the air above Jasmine's head, sending out droplets of energy and warmth like a spring breeze. Her face brightened a little.

"That should buy us some time," Sora said to Aladdin, "but we should deal with Jafar before Jasmine's strength runs out."

Jasmine reached out and grabbed Aladdin's hand. "Be careful."

"When am I not?"

She smirked. "Really? You don't run head first into trouble without thinking?"

"I'm a street rat remember? I improvise."

"Sora, please watch out for him."

"I will."

"Hey," Aladdin said in a mock hurt voice, "I can watch out for myself."

Jasmine squeezed his hand. "I know that, but together, you're stronger. Go."

Sora put Carpet in Jasmine's lap and left the palace with Aladdin. A sandstorm raged right outside the castle gates. Shapes appeared through the brown air, rushing toward them. Sora and Aladdin drew their weapons, but then the figures came closer. A few more civilians passed them, rushing into the castle. Right behind them were Donald and Goofy.

They watched the people enter the palace. Donald and Goofy didn't question Aladdin and Sora. One look on their focused expression was all they needed.

The party moved deeper into the sandstorm. The tempest scrapped Sora's skin and he had to walk half blind, with a hand over his squinted eyes. Next to him, Donald chanted and then raised his staff. A gust of summer wind rose up from the ground, swirling around each of them like a barrier.

"Aeroga," Donald chanted.

Now protected, they moved faster through the brown blur. Then Sora caught it. A shadow moved across the floor. It stopped below his feet, smiling up at him and clapping.

"I must thank you," came Dr. Faciliar's baritone voice.

The shadow slithered behind them. Turning, Sora watched as Dr. Faciliar moved in an air bubble through the sandstorm. He took off his hat and bowed.

"Thank you, for opening the castle's door to this world." He brought Jafar's lamp out from behind him, and raised it in the air.

Aladdin rushed forward, trying to grab the lamp but it was too late.

"For my final wish. I wish for you, Jafar, to be free of this lamp."

The lamp disintegrated in Dr. Facilier's hand. Furious, Aladdin tried to slash Dr. Facilier with his sword, but the Shadow Man vanished into purple smoke. In his place, there was cruel laughter that rumbled in the sky like thunder.

The sandstorm turned from brown to red. It blew in one direction, amalgamating into a shape. The dust morphed from sand to smoke, blackening. It swirled and slowly shrank in size and then Jafar walked out of the smoke. His red and black clothes sizzled with dark electricity. His long, thin face twisted into an insane smile.

Jafar curved his long neck down at them contemptuously. "I must thank the Shadow Man for his kind gesture. Never would I have dreamed I'd get the chance for such sweet revenge."

He raised his cobra headed staff, and a beam of red light flew over the ground, splitting it in half, separating Aladdin from the rest of the group. Sora, Donald and Goofy charged, but Jafar took a deep breathe and simply blew at them.

Daggers of cold air flew at Sora, Donald and Goofy, and without having time to react they were instantly frozen.

"Chill for a while," Jafar cackled, "while I deal with the street rat."

Jafar's deranged grin widened as he flew through the air. Lasers flew out of his staff, searing the ground where Aladdin had been a second before. Completely outmatched, Aladdin could only use his agility to run and dodge.

Sora watched helplessly, feeling his fingers and toes tingle from the ice he was trapped in. Instead of shivering, he felt as though every bit of him were on fire. Every muscle in his body seized. He could barely breathe: the ice had covered his nose and mouth. It was creeping up higher to cover his hair.

The only thing he could do was move his eyes. Then he saw the end of Donald's staff. It was sticking out of the ice, red flames building up at the tip. Seconds later, Donald's staff was completely aflame, the ice melting from his arm, then his torso, and finally his face. He stumbled out of the ice, shook his head and then faced Goofy and Sora.

"Get ready! Fire!"

Sora gasped for air, only to exhale in a scream as his body went from burning from the ice, to melting from the fire. Goody jumped up and down, patting his smocking clothes. Donald came to the center of the three of them, raising his staff high.

"Curaga!"

The burns and blisters from the fire and ice erased from Sora's skin. Donald collapsed.

Goofy bent down to help him, but Donald waved them off.

"Go help Aladdin."

Goofy dug into his pocket and put a bottle filled with blue and red liquid in the ground next to Donald.

"I was saving this ether for an emergency. Drink it."

Sora gave Donald a potion. "Thanks Donald."

The duck was busy pulling the cork off the ether bottle, desperate to try and replenish his magic. "Stop staring at me and go," he snapped.

Sora and Goofy raced through the buildings, chasing the sound of Jafar's laugher and the cracks and booms of his attacks. They rounded a corner, and then they were in the market place. The broken stalls and wares were on fire, and several paces ahead, Aladdin was held down by a team of heartless. Hovering above him was Jafar.

"As soon as I'm finished with all of you," he hissed, "I will plunge Agrabah into a deep darkness!"

Sora jumped on Goofy's sheild and then was launched into the air toward Jafar. From above, he fired an ice spell that hit Jafar's cape. The heartless looked up, and didn't see Goofy's shield flying toward them like a frisbee. It hit one of the heartless, freeing Aladdin's arm. He reached for his sword and slashed the other heartless.

Jafar turned his attention to Sora and conjured knives in the air. They flew toward Sora, ready to skewer him into pieces. Goofy jumped up between Sora and the knives, deflecting the attack. Down below, Aladdin got rid of the last heartless and tried to slash Jafar, but the ex-genie disintegrated into smoke, dodging the attack.

Landing on the ground, Sora and Goofy regrouped with Aladdin, searching for Jafar. Seconds turned into minutes, and then the sound of footprints made the three of them turn around, weapons raised, but it was only Donald catching up with the group.

"Without your genie boy," Jafar's voice echoed above them, "you're nothing. You can't hope to stop me. Once I plunge this world into darkness and be like a plague over the others and the first thing I need to do, is get rid of the light protecting this world."

A look of horror crossed Aladdin's face. Sora, Donald and Goofy felt ice pooling in their guts. The only light standing in Jafar's way was Jasmine.

Aladdin screamed into the sky. "Picking on defenseless civilians, Jafar? Despite all your power, you're nothing but a coward."

"Yeah, ya big palooka," Donald added.

"Yer just a big bully," Goofy said.

"Yeah, you ugly snake," Sora bellowed, "come out here and fight!"

There was a chortle.

"Ssssnake? Now there's an idea."

The ground rose up like a typhoon ocean wave, sending everyone down to their knees. Any building that had been standing crumbled, leaving the entire area as bare as the desert surrounding it.

There was nowhere to hide.

The perfect place for a predator to strike.

A thick, muscular tube rose up from under the ground. The sand beneath Sora's hands and knees parted to reveal black and red scales. A mound of sand rose up, burst and then a giant cobra head popped out. It turned to face them, its hood flaring, its lips peeling back to show sword-sized fangs. The red, hatred filled eyes narrowed at them. It was Jafar.

The scales under Sora twitched. Without thinking, he pushed Donald, Goofy and Aladdin off before the snake tail bucked, throwing Sora backward into the sand. He landed face first on the ground, his chest and torso burning from the impact, his mouth grainy with sand. Pulling himself up onto his elbows, he spit, and only had a moment to notice the ground beneath him get darker as a shadow loomed above.

Sora rolled, barely dodging the snake tail as it sank into the ground where he had just been. Quickly, he got back onto his feet and slammed his keyblade down on the snake's back. It was like a flea biting a dog. Rather then rear back in pain, the snake tail swept the area, crashing into Sora and slamming him back into the sand. This time, he landed on his back and stars burst in front of his eyes, his body tingling from head to toe.

With Sora down, Jafar turned his attention to Donald, Goofy and Aladdin, hissing with laughter.

"Come on," came his slithery voice, "won't you stay for a bite?"

He snapped at the Aladdin, Donald and Goofy, making the three of them fan out to avoid his strikes. Donald aimed fire spells at Jafar's face while Goofy ran to Sora. Aladdin slashed at Jafar's mouth whenever he flashed forward to try and bite the street rat, but it only slowed Jafar down.

His attacks wouldn't stop, and he slammed his long, thick body so hard against the sand, it sent everyone flying. From the air, he caught Aladdin in his tail. Sora, barely coming out of his daze, had no time to help Donald and Goofy, who had been caught up in Jafar's attack and had fallen to the ground, completely incapacitated.

Too exhausted to get up, his friends out of commission, Aladdin gritting his teeth from being crushed in Jafar's scales, dread sliced into Sora's heart. Then he felt a light nearby and turned his head to see Jasmine racing toward them. She reached Sora, and a look of horror twisted on her face at the sight of Aladdin.

He was barely awake, his eyes almost closing.

Jafar opened his mouth, ready to swallow Aladdin whole.

Jasmine put her hand on Sora's shoulder, pushing past him without noticing the spark that traveled from her hand to Sora. He felt an energy pass through him that brought him back up to his feet. Before Jasmine could get too far, Sora reached out and grabbed her hand. A powerful force slammed through him and into his keyblade.

Jasmine whirled around, staring at their hands. She reached out with her free hand and put it on Sora's keyblade. The power coursed through Sora and into his keyblade like a fury of a thousand sandstorms. He and Jasmine turned, aimed the keyblade together at Jafar, and had to take a deep breathe to relax the sizzling, fiery energy coursing through them in order to say in the incantation.

"Mega Flare!"

An explosion of light and heat blasted from the keyblade. It passed through Donald, through Goofy, Aladdin, Sora and Jasmine like a gentle breeze. Only Jafar roared as the spell burned through him, making his body vanish as the white light from the explosion momentarily erased everything.

Sora's eyes burned from all the light. The power he just commanded flickered out and died, and he fell into nothingness.

* * *

A light in the darkness, a home to return to, a memory of a friend left behind, he was lost in the switching narratives of dreams. Yet, somehow, he had a feeling that he shouldn't be asleep, that there was so much he had to do in the waking realm, but something wasn't letting him wake up completely.

Then a voice whispered in the dark.

_Stay asleep._

He didn't want to listen to the voice. He wasn't sure why. The voice was low and only wanted to give him comfort. Yet, it bothered him. He was tired of drifting in and out of consciousness, of thoughts that shouted that something was wrong, only to be forgotten a second later. There was something, someone, important that he just couldn't remember, and the more he felt that he was forgetting, the more his heart screamed in anguish.

The feelings flashed intensely one moment and then numbed out the next, as though something didn't want him to feel that way. Something a lot like...

Darkness.

_Do not awaken. You are not ready._

He was standing on a round platform. It was pitch blade, but he knew that it wasn't supposed to be. Vague memories of a bright and colorful platform beneath his feet appeared in thoughts. This wasn't right.

"I want to wake up," he thought.

_The waking world has no place for you._

"But I have something important to do."

_You belong here, in the darkness._

That was a lie. He only remembered the stupid grin of a boy, and the giggles of a girl he once knew, but he knew that was where he belonged, with his friends, and not here, locked in a prison of nothing.

He fought against the dreams, against forgetting, but the power of sleep crept into his mind each time. Focus, breathe, repeat, he chanted. He didn't want to forget. He couldn't forget.

_Just accept oblivion._

_"_ No. I won't."

_You have no choice. You are alone._

And the dreams took him again, but not before he swore to himself that he would wake up one day.

* * *

If they would stop shaking him he could sleep for five more darn minutes.

"Sora. Wake up."

Just a little longer.

"Aw phooey! This is how you do it."

Cold water slammed against his face. Sora sprang up, coughing. One look at the bucket that Donald held his hand explained what had happened.

"Why you!" Sora made a grab for Donald, but the duck was short and sprightly, hiding behind Jasmine's legs.

The princess smiled sweetly. "I'm so glad you're awake."

Goofy fell down to his knees and wrapped up Sora in a bear hug. "Gosh, I so was worried!"

Sora whipped the excess water off his face, leaning away from Goofy. "What happened?"

"You fainted after we cast that spell."

"The spell? Oh! What was that?"

"I don't know." Jasmine said. "But when I saw Aladdin in danger, I-"

She rounded on Aladdin, poking him in the chest. "I told you to be careful! You-"

She didn't say more. She threw herself at Aladdin. He "oofed" when she fell on him, but he didn't complain, wrapping his arms around her.

Sora and Goofy turned their heads, feeling as though they were intruding on a private moment. Only Donald stared with a silly grin on his beak, until Jiminy reminded him to be polite, making Donald turn reluctantly.

After a moment, Aladdin cleared his throat, telling everyone that it was safe to look again.

Sora spoke first. "Where's Jafar?"

Jasmine looked around the area. "Gone. I don't feel any darkness nearby at all, nothing like the power when he was attacking you. Agrabah's safe again."

"But how did we do that? I've never casted a spell that powerful before."

Goofy slammed his fist into his palm. "Isn't it because Jasmine is a princess of heart? Maybe her power and Sora's together is what got rid of Jafar."

"There's a lot we don't know about the light," Donald said.

And a lot they didn't know about the darkness, Sora remembered. Their enemies were getting stronger, he realized. He looked around Agrabah, or what was left of it.

"What about the city? Is it just going to stay like this?"

Aladdin sighed. "Razoul's going to find some way to blame me for this, I just know it."

"I'll deal with him, don't worry," Jasmine said. "We can rebuild Agrabah and who knows, if Genie comes back, we might be able to make it better then before."

Hearing Genie's name reminded Sora about Carpet and about how Dr. Facilier's attack had nearly destroyed the poor rug. Anguish turned in Sora's stomach, making him feel sick. Ever the attentive friends, Donald and Goofy leaned forward to look at his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Dr. Facilier. He thanked us for opening the castle door." Sora crumbled to the ground. "We brought Dr. Facilier here didn't we? He followed us. So, all this," he gestured to Agrabah's sorry state, "is our fault?"

Jasmine and Alice were right. He couldn't go to the realm of darkness to save Riku. Just by using Castle Oblivion's door, they had helped in destroying the home of their friends.

Jasmine poked Sora on the nose. "Did you plan to put this world in danger?"

"No."

"Do you want heartless to get out of the realm of darkness?"

"Of course not."

"Are you willing to face the consequences if they do? If a world get's destroyed, if the people you care about are in danger? These are questions a person with responsibility always has to ask."

Jasmine turned in a circle, pointing to her city. "Since I've lost my father, I've had to think about these things everyday. I've also made mistakes, but as long as one thing in my city is still standing, I will fight for it. Don't blame yourself for what happened today Sora. Dr. Facilier and Jafar did this, but you and Aladdin helped me to protect it."

"I don't know what to do. We're trapped in that castle and the only way forward is through the door that could, or could not, throw us into the realm of darkness."

"If that happens, then I want you to promise me one thing. Lock the door that leads to the realm of darkness with your keyblade. We don't need another person like Ansem, or Maleficent, out there destroying the worlds."

"Even if it means we might lock our friends in there too?"

"I think you should have more faith in Riku," Jasmine said, "you never know, he might just get out of the realm of darkness on his own." Jasmine smirked. "And when the two of you meet again, bring him back here. He owes me an apology for when he kidnapped me for Maleficent."

Sora looked at Donald and Goofy and the two of them smiled reassuringly at him.

"I think she's saying that she trusts us, Sora," Goofy said.

"Yeah, if we go to the realm of darkness, we'll just have to make absolutely sure nothing comes out," Donald added. "Besides, we have to defeat the Shadow Man."

"That's right. He made his third wish to set Jafar free. There's no telling what his second wish did."

Jasmine smiled at the three of them. "I have faith in you three. But don't forget that as keyblade master, you have a duty to keep the worlds safe."

"Of course, Highness." Sora bowed.

Just then something ran up to them. Abu jumped on Aladdin's shoulder. He was holding a thalassa shell in his hands.

Sora took the shell from the monkey. "We never did talk to that merchant."

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal:** _

Jafar (First Appeared in Aladdin, 1992): The former grand vizier of Agrabah. His lust for power made him conspire with Maleficent to take over Agrabah in the past. His thirst for revenge was not enough to stand up to Sora and Jasmine's combined light.


	8. Chapter 7: Todayland

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

_**Chapter 7: Todayland** _

* * *

A cloaked figure laughed silently into the void. A wave of fresh air moved through the realm of darkness. The walls between the worlds were getting weaker. The figure flew over the black platforms. The heartless stirred at his nearness, but he ignored them.

There was a light he was chasing, a light struggling against the darkness that had captured it. He needed to find it, to use it to escape, to set his plan into motion. He felt the bright warmth of it in the distance, and as he got closer, the light's power cut through the gloom of the dark realm.

Then something jumped at him and he was blinded by a white wave of energy. Like a wave, it threw him back.

The cloaked figure paused. Something was keeping him away every time he made a move. He couldn't reach the light, but it didn't matter. Soon, he would be free to go to the outside world.

* * *

The merchant had been very happy with the three star-shaped rubies that Sora, Donald and Goofy had given him. He described the caravan driver that had given him the thalassa shell. To the trio's surprise, the man the merchant had sent them to hadn't been in the palace.

They found him outside, in the destroyed city, helping women and children gather their belongings from the broken homes. He was a tall, handsome man, with silver hair tucked underneath his blue and gold bandana. Daggers rested on his hips, and he wore a series of exotic scarves and belts over his blue pants.

"Excuse us," Goofy began politely, "but are you a caravan driver?"

The young man turned around and bowed. "Locke Cole, and I'm a world class treasure hunter, not a caravan driver."

"Gosh, sorry Mr. Cole."

The young man laughed. "Locke is fine. What can I do for you?"

Sora held up the thalassa shell. "Can you tell us where you found this?"

"Sorry," Locke shrugged, "a treasure hunter never reveals his best hunting spots."

"We don't want to steal your thunder. We just want to know if there was something odd about the place where you found this shell."

Locke crossed his arms. "Odd? Like?"

Sora bit down on his tongue. How was he going to get this guy to tell him about the thalassa shell without revealing the existence of other worlds?

He dug into his pocket and took out Kairi's good luck charm.

"My friend made this. She made me promise to give it back. I haven't seen her in a while and well-"

Locke stared between the charm and the thalassa shell. "She used those shells to make that? You must really be important to her if she gave you something she worked so hard on."

Sora felt a tingly sensation in his heart. "Well, uh, yeah, I guess."

"All right, kid. I'll tell you where I found the shell, but I don't think it'll help you much."

"Why?"

"Well, because you might not believe me."

"Try me."

Locke hustled them away from the women he had been helping. Once they were out of earshot from the other civilians, he began his story.

"I'm not from around here, you see. I go wherever there's treasure, especially treasure that's out of this world, if you catch my drift."

Donald and Goofy shared a look.

Sora, still being cautious, used his words wisely. "You mean, like a different world?"

Locke snapped his fingers. "Bingo. What do you think? Sounds crazy right?"

Sora's keyblade appeared in his hands. "Not at all. We're out of this world too."

Locke quirked an eyebrow at the keyblade but didn't make a comment toward it.

"Lots of things from different worlds got blown around back when the walls separating worlds were gone. I went from place to place finding things that don't belong. Think I found that shell on a beach somewhere a few months back. Been carrying it around in my pocket for a while. Then something happened to the worlds and I ended up stuck here."

Sora felt his chest deflate. He must have been talking about when the heartless attacked the worlds and destroyed Destiny Islands. Once the worlds had been restored, they had been cut off from each other and that must have been why Locke was stuck in Agrabah.

"Wait. How come you didn't go back to your own world?"

"Already found all the treasure there. Didn't feel the need to return."

"That's not what I meant. When we restored the worlds, you should have gone back home, not been stuck here."

"We?" Locke repeated.

There was no use in hiding the truth when Locke already knew about the existence of other worlds. Sora, Donald and Goofy explained about their mission, about how they defeated Ansem, and that they were looking for their lost friends. When they were finished, Locke closed his eyes, as though meditating on their story.

"Sounds like you guys have had it pretty rough. You have no clue where your friends are?"

"All we know is that they might be in a realm of darkness, but we can't just-"

"Sounds like you need another set of eyes." Locke winked.

"What do you mean?"

"Someone should stay behind in that castle you mentioned and keep an eye out. I'm volunteering myself. Besides, what kind of world traversing treasure hunter stays in one place?"

"But-"

"Aw let him come." Donald said.

Goofy and Sora squinted at him.

Goofy scratched his temple. "Are ya sure, Donald?"

"Yeah, I didn't expect to hear that from you."

Donald tapped his foot. "Well, he has a point. We need someone to stand guard while we go from world to world to make sure nothing gets in or out, like Jasmine said."

"Really?" Sora leaned down to glare hard into the duck's eyes. "This wouldn't have something to do with the fact that Locke's a treasure hunter and that you want some of his bounty, now would it?"

Donald looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I understand if you don't trust me," Locke said, "so how about this."

He dug into one of his many pockets and produced a green gem. Donald's eyes widened. He stared at it with a star stuck expression. Locke held the gem high, out of Donald's reach. In the sun, the gem gleamed, revealing an inner red fire within.

"What's that?"

"Magicite. A rare, powerful treasure from my world," Locke explained. "It's very important to me. I'll offer it up to you as collateral. As long you have that, I won't do anything out of the ordinary, I promise. Do we have a deal?"

Sora looked at the gem in Locke's hand. "Before that, I want to know what you want. You can't just come along with us for only treasure."

Locke shrugged. "Well, for one, I don't like staying in one place too long. Plus, I want to help you guys."

Donald jumped up and down. "Come on, Sora, just take it."

"I don't think Locke's a bad guy," said Goofy. "After all, he was helping all those civilians earlier."

Jiminy whispered in Sora's ear. "It's your decision. I'll support you either way."

Sora thought about Jasmine's warning, and about how Dr. Facilier had entered Agrabah without any of them seeing. He took the magicite from Locke's hand.

* * *

Kairi stopped mid step.

Oswald turned around to look at her. "Something wrong?"

"That light we're chasing. It's closer then ever now."

Kairi closed her eyes. Somewhere nearby, there was a warm, honey feeling that made her feel giddy. Yet, it was behind something cold and angry and the whiplash of feeling two powerful but opposite things at once made Kairi's joints feel tingly and weak.

Excitement was shinning in Oswald's wide eyes.

"Then what are we waiting for. Let's go get it. Which way is it?"

Kairi turned in a circle. She felt the warm and cold sensations on her feet and walked toward the edge of the platform they were standing on. Pluto sniffed the floor as he walked behind her. When he looked down over the cliff, he barked and pointed with his nose.

"You can feel it down there too, boy?"

Oswald came to stand next to them. Down below, the darkness flowed like a black river.

"We should be very careful," Kairi said, "I can feel a powerful darkness down there too."

Oswald held out his hand. "Are you ready?"

Pluto jumped into Kairi's arms. With one hand holding the dog and the other grasping Oswald's, Kairi nodded.

"I'm ready."

"Okay. Here we go!"

With his powerful, rabbit legs, Oswald jumped, pulling Kairi and Pluto up into the air with him. As they descended down into the darkness below, magic pooled at the end of Oswald's wand. Kairi focused on the light down below, and on gathering magical power within herself, in case they ran into any heartless. Just as they descended down into the abyss, she felt another light.

It was only for a second, but the light was familiar, reminding her of her days chasing two boys on the beach. Then it was gone, leaving Kairi with a lonely feeling. She looked up at the platform they had just fallen from.

"Riku?"

* * *

Locke walked around the hall of Castle Oblivion, knocking on the walls and pressing his ear to the ground. Sora, Donald and Goofy watched him from the top stair in front of the dimensional door. Locke tapped on the castle's decorative pillars with his daggers. Then he raised his hand in the air, and chanted. "Thunder!"

Lightning rained down from the sky, charring the ground Locke was standing on. He stood with his hand on his chin, deep in thought. Then he turned to Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"There's a draft. I'm willing to bet that there's a secret door here somewhere."

Sora went to the wall that had changed the last time they were there. It was paper thin. He could almost see a dark horizon beyond it. He pulled out his keyblade and smacked the wall. The wall shivered as though it were made from jelly, yet it didn't break.

"I think this wall is getting weaker. I thought it looked weird the last time we were here." Sora turned to look at the door on the other side of the room. "Maybe it changes every time we travel through there."

"Looks like I'm going to keep an eye on this wall while you guys head out into another world. Bring me something shiny, will ya?" Locke sat down next to the wall and busied himself with sharpening his daggers.

"Let us know if anything interesting happens when we get back," Sora said.

At the door, he turned around to look at Locke one more time. Then he walked though the doorway with Donald and Goofy.

They stepped out onto the greenest lawn Sora had ever seen in his life. The sky was a perfect blue and in the distance, beyond a crystal clear lake, a city stood tall. Without hesitation, Sora, Donald and Goofy rushed toward the town. The closer they got, the more marvelous the city became.

People in giant soap bubbles flew around perfectly rounded towers. Skyscappers rose up in seconds, like inflatable balloons, from strange contraptions labeled, "instabuildings." The sidewalks and bridges between each building were covered by perfectly green grass. There were rails and rails of trams taking businessmen, children and families all around the sky scrappers. Not a single drop of smog, grime, or pollution existed in the city.

Unable to resist, Sora, Donald and Goofy raced to the top of the nearest building. On the roof of the building was a bubble machine. They stood excitedly in line, waiting to stand under the giant bubble wand. As soon as Sora's turn came, he practically raced to the circular platform. A bubble ring came down over his head, and a moment later, he was floating in a clear sphere. Behind him, Donald and Goofy floated in their own bubbles, marveling at the views of the city below.

Sora looked down at all the trams moving to and fro below him and the tops of the buildings with their perfect rooftop gardens. He floated to another building and a giant gloved hand poked his bubble. It popped. Before Sora could scream, he was looping down a tube-slide so fast, he couldn't resist throwing up his hands like he were on a roller coaster. The slide ended at the bottom of the building, and Sora slid out onto soft, smooth grass.

He leaned back in the grass and laughed, catching his breath, just as an excited Donald and Goofy landed out of the tube slide right behind him. Sora helped his friends up and couldn't resist jumping up and down with them in childish glee.

"This place is amazing," Sora said between pants, "what a city!"

In the next second, Sora instantly regretted his words. As if appearing just to ruin their good mood, black bowler hats popped out of the air. Tentacles came out of the bottoms of the hats. They floated in the air, twitching like poisonous jellyfish, heartless emblems shining on the top of each hat.

Donald groaned. "Why does this always happen?"

He raised his staff and send a blizzard spell careening out at the nearest heartless. Sora and Goofy charged into battle right behind Donald. Sora slashed through several heartless at once, smashing them to bits with his keyblade without ever noticing one of the heartless sneak up behind him.

The heartless' metal tentacles reached out and plucked Sora right off the ground, raising him up into the air. Struggling to get free, Sora spotted another heartless zooming toward him, its metal tentacles sharpening into a spear, ready to run him through.

Sora threw his kepblade with all the force he could muster and it sliced through the incoming heartless, but he was helpless to stop the others that were still flying toward him. Down below, Donald jumped up on Goody's shield and was thrown up into the air. He rose up right in front of Sora, raised his staff and bellowed.

"Thundaga!"

The heartless exploded as the lightning zinged through them. Donald and Sora fell, landing on their feet just as Goofy crushed the last heartless.

They never even got the chance to question why there were heartless in such a perfect city, because, just then, a boy ran up to them.

"Suspicious newcomers. You're coming with me!" He reached out and grabbed Sora's arm, dragging him.

Sora dug his heels into the ground and pulled his arm away from the strange boy. "What's your deal? You can't just grab someone like that."

"Young man-"

"Young? You're like the same age as me."

"I am a member of the police force in this city and I order you," he pointed between Sora's eyes, "to come with me and explain the appearance of those strange creatures."

"You mean the heartless?"

"Aha! So you do know what those creatures are. You've just admitted guilt, my friend."

"What?"

By this time, Donald and Goofy had stepped between Sora and the boy.

Donald stomped his foot. "Hey, you brat, didn't anyone teach ya it's not polite to just grab people like that?"

"Now, now," Goofy began. "Why don't we all just calm down?" He turned toward the boy. "Excuse me, mister-"

The boy smoothed back his glossy, black hair. "Robinson, Wilbur Robinson."

"Mr. Robinson. Can you tell us why you're so upset?"

Wilber Robinson looked at the back of his nails. "I'm a time traveling spy from the future and this is my city. It's my job to make sure nothing goes wrong here."

"Has something gone wrong here?"

"Yes. Those strange creatures have been appearing and causing all kinds of trouble."

"Then maybe we can help you. We're sorta good at handling the heartless. Why don't you calmly explain to us what's going on."

Wilbur Robinson squinted shrewdly at Goofy and then gave Sora and Donald a once over. The duck and the keyblade master glared back at him. Finally, Wilbur sighed and brushed off imaginary dust from his shoulder.

"Fine. Let's go to my place. I'll explain things there. "

* * *

Sora had expected that a "time traveling spy from the future" would take them to some super, secret, underground facility, not to a big, fancy house on a beautiful, green hill. A giant, golden letter "R" hung above the front door.

Wildbur went up the steps toward the door. On the left and right sides of the entrance were two potted trees. When Sora, Donald, and Goofy went up the steps to the porch, someone's head popped out one of the giant pots.

Donald screamed, jumping into Goofy's arms. Sora's keyblade appeared in his hand and he pointed it toward the head. A man with a pointy nose and sunglasses smiled.

"Hey," he nodded toward the door, "ring my doorbell."

There was a voice from behind them. Turning, there was an identical head coming out of the other pot.

"No, ring my doorbell. It's cooler!"

"Uncle Spike, Uncle Dimitri," Wilbur huffed, "we don't have time for this. We're on a very important mission."

Uncles Spike and Dimitri blew raspberries at him.

If Sora thought two heads coming out a flower pot was the strangest thing he would see that day, he was so wrong. A second after Wilbur had knocked on the door, a giant, one-eyed, purple squid opened it.

This time, Goofy screamed, hiding behind Donald.

The squid took one look at Wilbur and moved out of the way. Wilbur moved to enter the house but stopped when he noticed that no one was following.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

Sora, his keyblade still in his hand, pointed at the door. "That giant squid doesn't bother you."

"Squid? How dare you. That's my trusted butler, Lefty. Now come on!"

Sora couldn't help ducking awkwardly as he entered the house behind Wilbur. The "butler" stared at them with its giant eye as they entered. Once inside, Lefty closed the door and slithered away.

The interior of the house was just as bright and sunny as the city had been to and Sora would have thought it were a perfectly normal home, if it weren't for the fact that the room suddenly rumbled and a giant train moved across the foyer. A woman sat on top of the locomotive, screaming, "yee-haw!"

"What was that," Donald asked.

"That was Aunt Billy and her toy train," said Wilber. 

"That was a _toy_ train?"

"Sure was," said someone new.

Sora, Donald and Goofy jumped. A old man, who was wearing all of his clothes completely backwards, had appeared behind them.

"Hi Grandpa," Wilbur waved, "have you seen Dad anywhere?"

"Don't think so," said Grandpa, "but I think Grandma Lucile might have seen him last."

"Where is she?"

"Baking cookies."

It turned out that "baking cookies" really meant that Grandma Lucile was having a dance party for one. They found her dancing under a disco ball in a large, empty room. Sora, Donald and Goofy couldn't resist not dancing as they walked under the disco lights.

Grandma Lucile didn't stop grooving even when Wilbur asked her where to to find his father.

"Ask, Uncle Art."

Uncle Art was a pizza delivery guy and, by the time Wilbur and the others had caught up to him in the topiary garden, he was already flying away on a delivery in his flying saucer. Luckily, Uncle Fritz and his wife, who was actually a wooden puppet on Uncle Fritz's hand, told them to talk to Wilber's mom, Franny.

Wilbur lead the way to a room that, even with the door closed, was loud with jazz music. When they entered, Donald and Goofy clapped excitedly at the sight of a whole ensemble of frogs singing, dancing, playing the guitar, piano, drums, trumpets, all while being conducted by a tall, pretty lady that shared Wilbur's glossy, black hair and brown eyes.

Wilbur didn't even bother to talk to his mother. He sat back and listened to the music. Sora, Donald and Goofy danced along, until the number ended. Then they gave the frogs and their conductor a standing ovation.

When the frogs and the conductor bowed, Sora thought about Naveen and Tiana and how Franny would have loved to meet them.

"Thank you! Thank you," Franny said.

Standing, she noticed, Sora, Donald and Goofy. "Oh. Wilbur, looks like you've made some new friends."

"Mom, have you seen Dad?"

"Said he was going to go give Uncle Joe a new waistband."

Sora, Donald and Goofy groaned but followed Wilbur to the next family member.

Uncle Joe was busy eating PB&J in front of a TV and he sent them to Uncle Gaston, who fired them out of a canon to see Uncle Fritz's son and daughter, Talula and Lazo, who then (finally!) told them that Wilbur's dad was in the garage, which led everyone back to the foyer where they had started.

"A-yuck, what a nice family."

"That was so much fun," Donald chuckled.

"Yeah," Sora said to Wilbur, "your family is really something."

"Thanks."

"Okay, so we're back here," Donald said. "Now what?"

"We need to get to the garage," said Wilbur.

Then he pulled a string that hung down from the ceiling and the ground split open beneath Sora, Donald and Goofy. Screaming, Sora looped and bounced in a long, glass tube before he landed on his feet in the cavernous garage.

Donald and Goofy crashed onto the floor behind him. The next second, Wilbur landed easily on his feet.

Sora stomped up to the Wilbur. "Couldn't you have warned us?"

Wilbur put a hand up in front of Sora's face. "No time for that." He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. "CARL!"

"Kid I'm right here, you don't have to shout."

A golden robot with long, spaghetti arms and legs walked out into the light from the shadowy corners of the garage. The robot snapped his fingers and the garage lit up. The entire room was full of all kinds of contraptions and tools and in the middle of it all were what looked like two rocket ships, one blue, and one red.

Donald and Goofy got close to the red rocket ship, excitedly bouncing up and down.

"Sora! It's like the gummi ship," they said.

Wilbur popped up between Donald, Goofy and the "gummi ship."

"Hey, hey, hey! Hands off the time machine!"

Sora felt an irresistible urge to go to the other rocket-ship and climb onto one of its wings.

"A time machine? No way! That's so cool!"

"Hey! Get down from there! Carl!"

The robot's arms stretched out and looped around Sora's waist like a rope, taking him off the time machine and putting him back down on the ground.

"Listen kid, the last time we had a spiky haired boy try and take the time machine out for a spin, we almost put the fate of the entire timeline in jeopardy. Be careful, will ya?"

Sora couldn't bring himself to feel too guilty when a literal robot (which was really cool) was the one scolding him, but he apologized anyway.

"So, what's with the red, blue and green trio?" Carl asked Wilber.

"That is an excellent question," Wilbur said. "But first, where is Dad?"

"Just a sec."

Car's arm stretched and stretched all the way to a corner of the room, where a pair of legs were sticking out from under a massive, black cube. Carl's arm looped around the legs and the next second, a blond man was pulled through the air toward them.

Dangling upside down, his lab coat hanging form his shoulders, Wilber's dad waved.

"Hello."

Sora, Donald and Goofy waved back awkwardly.

Carl flipped Wilber's dad right side up and put him back on his feet.

"Hey, Cornelius. Wilbur's got something to say to you."

Cornelius adjusted the glasses on his nose. "Wilbur, can't you introduce me to your friends first?"

"Oh right, this is," Wilbur stopped. "Uh, I don't actually know their names."

After some introductions, Wilbur finally got the chance to speak to Cornelius.

"Those strange creatures that we've been seeing lately, these three took them down without a sweat."

"Really? How?"

"I guess you can call us exterminators," Sora said.

"That's really good news," said Cornelius. "I've been running around for days, trying to come up with an invention that can get rid of those things and-"

One second, Cornelius Robinson was in front of them, the next he was gone. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Wilbur and Carl stared at the empty space where he had just been. Sora rubbed his eyes and when he opened them, he realized that he hadn't been seeing things.

Cornelius really was gone.

"Dad?" Wilber called.

There was no response.

"Carl, did you see?"

But Carl was gone too and the next second the garage looked as though it were glitching. The surrounding walls and ceiling faded in and out of focus.

Sora summoned his keyblade, but there was no enemy to fight. "What's going on? Where did your Dad go?"

Wilbur ran to the red rocket ship and opened the door, jumping inside. "Come on," he shouted.

Sora, Donald and Goofy jumped into the time machine and sat in the seats behind Wilbur. They buckled up while Wilbur was frantically pressing buttons. The rocket ship roared to life and then they were floating off the garage floor.

Outside, the glitching became worse as everything turned red hot, melting. The ground split open, the walls crackled, and then all the inventions and contraptions around the room began to explode one by one.

"Hold on tight!"

Wilbur punched a red button and a second later, Sora was pressed into his seat as the ship flew through a long tube of colorful light. When the ship stopped, they were no longer in the beautiful, clean, gleaming city they had seen. The buildings were made of brick and steel. Rain poured down from the sky, pitter-pattering on the glass doom of the rocket ship, or time machine.

The city below was grimy and the air had a polluted grey glow to it.

Goofy pressed his nose to the glass next to his seat, looking down. "Where are we? What just happened?"

"We jumped back to the past," Wilbur explained. "I think something happened to my Dad when he was a kid."

"How do you know that," Sora asked.

"Because Carl was invented by my dad. If Carl disappeared then that means that Dad never invented him. If we don't find my Dad and fix the problem, the entire future will disappear. And so will I."

* * *

Kairi, Oswald and Pluto floated down and down and down. The chasm below felt as though it had no end, and the heartless watched them from dark cliffs as they descended deeper and deeper. Yet, they did not attack. Strange.

The lower they went, the more the happiness of the light warmed Kairi while the anger of the darkness gnawed at her. Whatever was down there was both dangerous and rewarding.

Were they even floating downward, Kairi began to wonder. The platforms they passed looked as though they were flipped upside down. Had they gone so far that they had immersed on the other side of the realm of darkness, like a kid who believed that digging through a planet would lead to them standing upside down on the other side.

When her feet finally touched the ground, Pluto wriggled out of Kairi's hold. He ran around sniffing with his rear in the air, his tail sticking straight up and alert. Kairi stretched her arm, which had stiffened from holding Pluto for so long.

Oswald noticed and helped her aching muscles with a cure spell. Thanking him, Kairi searched for the source of the strong light and incredible darkness she felt. Then she saw it.

Down the road they stood on, was a massive arch that stretched up several meters from the ground like a giant open mouth, ready to swallow them if they passed below it. The arch was decorated by black, stone barbs, like shark teeth, that jutted out in every direction, cutting into the nearby platforms that were unfortunate enough to float too close.

Beyond the arch was another terror. A black sphere with purple, blue, and neon red energy was floating there. Kairi could see lighting flashing within the sphere. Rubble floated around the sphere like the outer ring of a planet. Whatever was inside that darkness, Kairi new there would be no turning back once they entered it.

"You nervous?" Oswald said.

"Kind of. But I came here to find that light and I'm going in."

Oswald grinned at her and then held out his hand. "You ready?"

Grasping it, Kairi winked at him, summoning up her magical energy, getting ready for a fight she knew was coming.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal** _

Locke Cole (First appeared in Final Fantasy VI, 1994): Self proclaimed treasure hunter who seems to have a soft spot for women. He's friendly and loves to joke around. Locke has agreed to keep an eye out in Castle Oblivion while Sora and company visit the other worlds.

Wilbur Robinson (First Appeared in Meet The Robinsons, 2007): The son of Frannie and Cornelius Robinson. An overconfident boy from the future, the world Wilbur lives in is a direct result of all his father's inventions. Wilbur's a bit impatient, but seems to have the future's best interest at heart. His life is on the line if Sora, Donald and Goofy don't help him figure out what went wrong in the past.

Carl (First Appeared in Meet The Robinsons, 2007): A golden robot made by Wilbur's dad. He has arms that can stretch for long distances and is always trying to keep Wilbur out of trouble.

The Robinson Family (First Appeared in Meet The Robinsons, 2007): Okay, Bud, Fritz and Joe are Brothers. Fritz is married to Petunia (who is a cranky puppet). Talula and Lazlo are their children. Joe is married to Aunt Billy. Lefty (the squid) is the butler. Spike and Dimitri are twins (and the Robinsons don't know who they're related to). Lucille is married to Bud and Wilbur's Dad, Cornelius, is their son. Cornelius is married to Frannie and her brothers are Gaston and Art.


	9. Chapter 8: The Invisible

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

_**Chapter 8: The Invisible** _

* * *

Sora, Donald and Goofy had to resist running up to poke all the contraptions and innovations in the domed convention hall. People in lab coats scurried around, carrying papers and veiled objects, moving giant machines with forklifts, reconnecting wires to electronic circuits, and tightening the bolts on their inventions.

Among all the scientists were people in business suits. They walked around from stand to stand, taking furious notes on each of the inventions on display. None of the suits paid any attention to all the field trip children that had come to the science fair. The inventors, on the other hand, were more then happy to answer any the children's questions.

Wilbur had been leading the way through the exhibition hall. Suddenly he set off at a run toward a stand where several suits were listening to a young boy. His invention looked much more make-shift than anything else in the exhibition hall.

"This," the boy was saying excitedly, "is what I call the 'bully radar.'"

The boy pointed to what looked like a pair of walkie-talkies. A lightbulb was taped to the walkie-talkie's antennae.

"This will greatly lower the rate at which bullying occurs in schools by allowing teachers to put a stop to the behavior as or before it even occurs. Whenever there is a bully or a student that is experiencing extreme negative emotion, the lightbulb on the radar starts to blink and the beeping will get louder the closer the teacher moves toward the target. I'm still working on increasing the radius of effect so that teachers and faculty members can get feedback from anywhere on campus, but..."

The boy trailed off, leaning to the side in order to look just beyond the suits. He noticed Wilbur waving his arms.

"Uh, sorry. Would you excuse me for a second?"

Wilbur pointed to a nearby machine that was big enough for all of them to duck behind. Sora, donald and Goofy waited behind Wilbur for the boy to arrive. When the boy came around the machine, he grabbed Wilbur's ear.

"Don't tell me you left the garage door open again."

Wilbur winced. "I didn't! I swear! I came here to protect you!"

"From what? Did another one of my inventions come back to try and ruin my future?"

"Excuse me," Goofy began, "but are you Wilbur's father?"

The boy finally let go of Wilbur's ear, and nodded. Sora was amazed he hadn't noticed the resemblance before. Young Cornelius Robinson had the same spiky, yellow hair and the same glasses. Although he wasn't wearing a lab coat like his older counterpart, Cornelius did wear the same blue vest over a white collar shirt and the same red shorts.

"Call me Lewis. The name Cornelius hasn't grown on me yet." He extended his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Goofy shook hands with Lewis. After Sora and Donald introduced themselves, Wilbur explained why they were there and what had happened in the future. The more he told his story, the more worried Lewis' eyes widened.

"Wait," Lewis said, "If something happens to me in the past, then how are you still here? Logically, you shouldn't exist."

Wilbur raised his hand into the air and took a deep breathe as though he were about to launch into an explanation tirade, but then he stopped. "That, uh, is an excellent question. How am I still here?"

"Maybe it has something to do with your heart?" Sora offered.

"My heart?"

"A strong heart can push you through the hardest times. Believe me."

Lonely memories of moving through Hollow Bastion after being left behind by Donald and Goofy, of offering his own heart to the darkness in order to free Kairi's, filled Sora's mind. He never would have been able to summon the strength to fight Riku if his heart hadn't grown so much from the adventures he'd had and the friends he'd made.

"We don't have time to talk about hearts." Wilbur faced Lewis. "Has anything strange happened to you? Like, were you followed?" Wilbur waved his arms in the air. "Did you get attacked by these weird, black alien looking monsters with glowing yellow eyes?"

Lewis gave Wilbur a "really" look.

"Alien monsters?"

"They're called heartless," Sora explained. "Weird stuff happens when they're around. Have you noticed anything?"

"The weirdest thing I've seen all day is when Mom started screaming in the middle of a backflip."

Wilbur slapped his palm on his forehead. "Is she on the caffeine patches again?"

"Caffeine patches?" Sora, Donald and Goofy repeated.

The explanation never came. Something made a high pitched, beeping sound. At first it was low, and then the rhythm became faster. The beeping shrieked through the entire room, bouncing off the walls. Everyone in the exhibition hall yelped and covered their ears. Lewis' face twisted in pain.

"That's my bully detector," he yelled over the noise.

The ground shook.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Wilbur and Lewis peeked around the machine they had been hiding behind. Across the room, Lewis' radar was bouncing on the table at it screeched. A man in a suit rushed toward it, to try and turn it off, but he bounced off the air and crashed into a nearby table.

Goofy ran out to try and help the civilians, but the moment he had finished helping the injured man, he was flung across the room himself. He slammed onto the miniature town model, that had been the centerpiece of the exhibition hall, and lay there, a giant among tiny buildings, with stars flying around his head.

The man Goofy had just helped and the people in the exhibition pushed and shoved, running out of the room while an unseen hurricane knocked over machinery, tables, coffee stands, forklifts and whatever else that wasn't tied down.

Sora grabbed Wilbur's shoulder.

"Get Lewis out of here!"

"Be careful," Wilbur said, before running out after the civilians with Lewis right behind him.

Donald raced across the room to help Goofy, and Sora, keyblade in hand, chased after him, keeping his eyes and ears open for a sudden, invisible attack. Something crashed to his right, and Sora sent a blizzard spell careening out in the direction of the noise. The icy particles of his attack hit the wall opposite the room.

He watched the floor, trying to see if he could catch movement in the dust, but the stupid exhibition hall just had to be swept spotless. Behind him, Goofy groaned as regained consciousness. The stars that had been swirling around his head vanished.

Donald helped him off the model and just in time too. In the next second, something, like a giant's foot, squashed the model flat. Donald aimed a spell at the invisible threat, but his attack didn't hit anything that was alive.

The three friends huddled, back to back, watching, waiting for an attack, but the room was empty except for the mess of broken inventions and spilled coffee.

"How do we fight something we can't see," Goofy said.

"Sora, up there."

Looking up, Sora spotted the sprinkler system high on the doomed ceiling. He raised his keyblade with Donald and shouted, "Firaga!"

The fireballs crashed against the sprinklers high above and then the entire room was awash in an artificial rainstorm. Then they saw it. The water from the sprinklers produced an outline of something in the middle of the room. Right in front of them, hunched over like a predator ready to strike, was a creature as big as a school bus. Sora couldn't see any details, but the creature had a long, thick tail that stick out far behind its body. Its back legs and feet were wide and heavy looking, while its head was long and round.

Massive footprints stomped toward them. Sora, Donald and Goofy raised their weapons. Donald threw an ice spell at it, Sora threw his keyblade, and Goofy threw his shield, but it was like throwing pebbles at an incoming boulder. The creature didn't stop charging, and the three friends barely had enough time to jump out of the way before they were trampled.

Sora and Goofy summoned their weapons back to their hands and regained their feet, ready for another round, but the room was empty. They looked down toward the floor, looking for any displaced water, but there was nothing. The only indication that the creature had been there, was the mess left behind from its attack.

Sora looked at the exits around the hall. They weren't distorted or pulled off. If something that big had gone through any of them, there was no way they would have remained in such perfect condition.

Then they realized how silent it was. With the adrenaline of the battle pumping through them, Sora hadn't noticed the beeping from Lewis' bully radar. It had finally stopped. Searching, he found two walkie-talkies on the floor and picked them up. The light bulb was off, but the two radars were completely untouched. They wasn't even wet from the sprinklers.

Sora held the bully radars close to his chest as he ran out of the building. Outside, the sun shined down on their wet clothes. Police officers and ambulance members were helping terrified and confused inventors, children, teachers, and business people alike. Sora, Donald and Goofy ducked away from the uniformed men and women and retraced their steps to where Wilbur had hidden the time machine.

When they reached the alley, Wilbur and Lewis were there waiting for them.

Lewis ran up to them first. "You guys are okay! That's good news."

"What happened," Wilbur asked.

"We don't really know," Donald said. "Was that a heartless? We didn't see a heartless emblem."

"We didn't _see_ anything. It was completely invisible."

"Gosh, could that be the thing that is after Lewis?"

Sora gave Lewis his bully detectors.

"Thanks," Lewis sighed. "Another failure huh. Need to work out more of the kinks in these things. Maybe the voltage was too high? Or I haven't calibrated the sensors to correctly predict angry responses. You think that must be it?"

Sora, Donald and Goofy nodded quickly at Lewis' words, not understanding a thing but too afraid to look like complete buffoons.

Wilbur winked at them. "Don't worry, I don't understand my dad's mumbo jumbo in the future either."

"It's not mumbo jumbo." Lewis huffed. "It's science! And I seem to recall that my mumbo jumbo created the future you live in." He looked down at the walkie talkies in his hands. "Still, I can't understand why they would suddenly beep like that. I didn't tweak the speakers in these walkie talkies to make that much noise."

Sora thought back to the attack, and how one of the businessmen had been pushed back when he had tried to grab Lewis' invention.

"Hold on, maybe your bully detectors went off because that monster was nearby."

"What do you mean?"

"It makes total sense! Heartless are made of darkness and your bully detectors can sense negative emotions. That must be why it went off, because it sensed the dark emotions from the heartless."

"But, Sora," Donald said, "didn't the reports we read say that heartless don't have emotions?"

Goofy put a finger on his chin. "Maybe Lewis' bully catchers-"

"Bully detectors," Donald corrected.

"-can sense darkness nearby."

A slow smile spread on Lewis face. He elbowed Wilbur's shoulder and then exclaimed, "This looks like the job for experimentation!"

"Experi-what now?"

"We won't know if my bully detectors sense darkness or not without testing it out. Besides, if there's an invisible monster after me, it might come back. What better way to be prepared?"

Goofy nodded proudly. "Ya know, I think he's right."

Wilbur sighed. "I just knew this was going to result in more work for us. Okay, Dad, what's the plan?"

* * *

They walked through caverns that looked like the inside of a melted, crimson candle. The tunnels and pits on the floor opened and closed like toothless mouths caught in between screams and silence. The material of the walls glowed molten hot, but were rock solid to the touch.

Every footstep click-clacked on the floor and the sound echoed through the shifting passage ways, but instead of fading out into silence, the sounds increased in volume, making a stomach-turning, creaking sound like the groaning of metal against metal.

Kairi, Oswald and Pluto walked over the shifting ripples on the floor, each of them holding their breath. Pluto's teeth stuck out from under his lips. He walked with his head low and his tail between his legs. Kairi stuck close to Oswald, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other without losing her balance.

The darkness was thick there. She could see the black dust swirling in the air, could feel it scrapping against her skin and roaring in her ears. Her head had throbbed from the moment they had entered and the pounding was only getting worse the deeper they went.

Every so often, she would feel a tickle of light, and she would direct Oswald toward it, but with the way their surroundings changed, Kairi feared that walking onward would only trap them in the darkness, unable to escape. Even if she wanted to turn back, she knew she couldn't. Every tunnel they moved through closed behind them, making their only choice forward.

Kairi rubbed her temples and for a brief, wonderful moment, she felt a minty breeze wash over her face as Oswald casted yet another healing spell to help her deal with the darkness. Thanking him, Kairi used the momentary clear headedness to pinpoint the light they were chasing.

She pointed to a tunnel, and they squeezed through it before it melted into the floor. They quickly stopped moving before they slipped and fell into the perfect Kairi, Oswald and Pluto shaped hole that was right on the other side. Hugging the wall, Kairi shimmied to the other side of the hole and when they were finally back on flat ground, Oswald's ears stuck straight up.

"Did you hear something?"

"No."

His ears swiveled left and Oswald faced a tunnel that had just appeared right behind him.

"It's in there."

"Is it a heartless?"

Oswald leaned his head into the hole. There was a bark. Oswald screamed, jumping up in the air, his wand raised toward the tunnel, his eyes wide. Kairi sent a water spell rushing through the tunnel and then turned around to glare at Pluto.

The dog was barking into the pit they had just walked around and the echos of his barks were like thunderous crashes down below. Oswald walked over to the dog and poked him on the nose.

"You almost scared my fur off!"

Pluto growled and then pointed into the hole with his nose. Kairi went to stand next to him, and then she felt it. The light was down below and the hole was shrinking. Quickly, before it could close, she leapt in with Oswald and Pluto, and felt the tunnel getting thinner and thinner as they descended.

They squeezed through the icy tube and fell onto a wet floor. Even the water in the waxy dungeon had a oozy, red color to it.

"I hear it again!" Oswald turned toward a tunnel. "I know that voice. It can't be!"

"What voice? I can't hear anything."

But Oswald wasn't listening, he dashed into the tunnel. Kairi and Pluto rushed to chase after him, but after going through the tunnel, Kairi lost sight of Oswald in the confusing mess of opening and closing tubes. Pluto was gone as well.

The pounding in her head had returned. Kairi sat down, helplessly watching the cave around her stretch and melt as her head felt as though a nail were being hammered into it. Then there was a whisper of a voice against her ear.

"Kairi?"

She stood, looking around the tubes for that sound.

"Kairi?"

The tube to her left was closing, but that was where the voice had come from.

Kairi jumped in and slid all the way down into another cavern. Her shorts and socks filled with water that somehow wasn't cold or wet, but felt like metal sand that nicked her skin. When she stood, she found out that she wasn't alone in that room.

A boy stood across from her. Though she couldn't see his face, she knew that silver hair, recognized the bulky shape of his shoulders. The boy turned around, and his light, blue eyes were like an icicle through Kairi's heart. There was no light in him.

"No way," Kairi moved across the room. "Riku? Is that you? What happened?"

The boy didn't respond. His face was angled toward the floor. On his black, sinewy chest, there was a heart shape. It was much like the emblem of the heartless, except it did not have the black thorns that made an X across the heart.

"Riku? Can you hear me?"

Kairi reached out to touch him, to make sure he was real, but then she felt her guts twist with freezing agony. She jumped back, summoning the mental image of water.

"You're not Riku."

The boy in front of her melted and out of the black puddle he left behind, a muscular arm reached out. The body of the heartless followed. First the dark, blue horns that crowned the heartless' head poked out of the floor. Then its lipless face appeared. It ground its teeth at her, raising its other arm. A sword was in its other hand.

The heartless flew up from the ground, stretching its muscles in the air. Its long, thin tail stretched behind its thick thighs. Then it turned and pointed its sword at Kairi.

The heartless flew across the cavern.

Kairi ducked into the nearest tunnel just as the sword pierced into the wall where her head had been only a second before. The tunnel shrank and Kairi bent forward, and then ducked, and then crawled. The opening was just a few feet away and Kairi threw herself out just as the tunnel completely closed behind her.

Gasping, Kairi had to press her hands to her temples. The darkness was getting worse and her fear was growing with it.

"Oswald? Pluto? Anybody?"

The only response was from the darkness. A ring of black fire swirled around Kairi's feet. The ring began to shrink, getting closer and closer to her legs. Kairi leapt out of the circle of shadows. She watched as the shadows reattached to each other, and the heartless with the sword had returned.

"Water!"

Kairi's spell hit the heartless right between the eyes, throwing it back against the wall. The darkness was thick, and the heartless was quick to recover as soon as the water faded from its body. The heartless flashed forward and then was jerked back. Its tail was caught in one of the tunnels. As the heartless moved its tail to get free, Kairi ducked into another tunnel.

"Oswald! Pluto!"

There was no answer, and soon the heartless was back, but this time it wasn't alone. More of its kind had joined it and Kairi's head was ready to split in two. The darkness beat down on her shoulders, making her crumble to her knees. She gathered magic from deep within and pointed at the army of heartless that were filling the shrinking space of the cavern.

"Water!"

The entire chamber flooded, and Kairi fell through yet another tunnel as she was washed away by her own spell. She landed in another part of the cave, and collapsed against the wall. The anger of the darkness screamed in her head, and her heart was being crushed under its power. The heartless found her again, and Kairi was out of magic.

The army of heartless were coming closer and Kairi bit her lower lip to keep herself from screaming, from sobbing, from letting everyone know that she had let them down. She hadn't given the king's letter to Sora, she hadn't found Riku, she hadn't done anything but wonder the darkness and she was all alone and no one was going to save her.

And yet, somewhere nearby, there was a tiny, butterfly of light. It touched her forehead gently like a mother's kiss during a fever.

Kairi wobbled to her feet.

"Fine," she panted, "if it's light you want, it's light you'll get. I came here to find a way to my friends and you're not going to stop me!"

The darkness punched her head from the inside, but Kairi focused on the tiny sliver of light in her thoughts.

"I'm a princess of light! I may be alone, but my heart is not! As long as the light exists here, I will fight! Come on!"

She raised her hands up in the air and summoned every last bit of strength she had. Water pooled around her ankles and Kairi sent it crashing into the heartless directly ahead. It pushed back the heartless to the other side of the room and Kairi collapsed back onto her knees, unable to defend herself as one of the shadows got free and dashed at her.

Pluto jumped down from a hole in the ceiling and bit down on the heartless' head, throwing it aside. Oswald's cure spell sprinkled over Kairi and her head cleared for a moment. Oswald landed next to her and held her hand. Together, they faced the heartless.

"There's a light right behind them."

"Then we had better make this quick."

"I don't have much energy left."

"Yes you do. You have all the light you need. And mine too."

Kairi squeezed his hand. "Thanks!"

Oswald threw fire spells at the heartless as Kairi closed her eyes.

She imagined the ocean, the sky, the stars, the heart-pounding feeling of Sora holding her close after she cured him of the darkness, Riku's laughter whenever he caught the two of them lazing off, and the paopu tree where all three of them would watch the sun set. She imagined the way Pluto wagged his tail, the way Oswald's eyes filled with excitement whenever she did magic with him.

Oswald's hand grew warm in hers and together, the two of them raised his wand. Pluto came to stand behind them, pushing on Kairi's thigh and Oswald's hip as though cheering them on. The light in Kairi's heart only grew from Pluto's support.

She sang the spell with Oswald.

"Holy!"

A sword of light slashed through the heartless, through the cave, through the realm of darkness itself. The red cave disintegrated and Kairi felt a rush of wind sweep her off her feet. She flew off the platform with Oswald and Pluto.

Up above, there was a moon, and the wind was pushing them toward it.

But it wasn't a moon. It was light, a way out of the realm of darkness. Pluto didn't fight the pull, scurrying through the air, up toward the light, but Kairi hesitated when she felt Oswald's hand slip from hers. Turning, she watched in horror as he fell back, letting go.

She tried to swim through the air, to catch him, but Oswald shook his head.

"Wait," Kairi begged, "I can't leave you!"

"I told you before. I won't leave the realm of darkness without Ortensia. She's down there, I know she is."

"No! Oswald!"

He put his hand on his heart. "We will meet again! I know we will! It's a promise! And you had better be a full fleshed mage when we meet again!"

Kairi's tears fell into the darkness. "And you better have found Ortensia when I come back!"

She was pulled through the gateway. Too exhausted to stay awake, she let herself fade into the white light.

* * *

Lewis ran from one end of the room to the other, gathering metal. He was so caught up in his work that Wilbur, Sora, Donald and Goofy could only hand him tools. They watched as Lewis hammered into a ribbon of metal, curving it into a ring. Then he wielded a metal disk onto the ring. Finally, he connected wires from his bully radars to the ring and added some padding on this inside.

When he was finished, he put his contraption on his head, making him look like a doctor with an extra large stethoscope on his forehead. The wire from his new headband connected to the bully detector on his belt. With a screwdriver, he opened up the other bully detector, and tweaked the inner machinery with some fine tools.

"It's finished! I had planned to make a better sensory tool after getting funding from the businessmen at the inventor's showcase but this will have to do for now."

Lewis walked up to Wilbur and put a flat screen into his son's hands. Turning the screen on, a green grid appeared. Then Lewis gave the other bully radar to Sora and instructed him to move about the room. Shrugging, Sora walked around as instructed.

Wilbur whistled and pointed. "Is that Sora?"

On the screen, there was a yellow dot that matched Sora's movements as he walked around.

Lewis grinned. "It works! Hah!"

He turned up the radio frequency on his walkie-talkie.

"What works?" Donald tapped his foot. "I don't get it."

"I've re-calibrated my bully detector and connected it to this screen. If any darkness pops up, it will appear on this screen and I'll be able to direct you toward it, using the bully detector that Sora has."

"I get it," Wilbur said, "the bully detector was originally a walkie-talkie. You're going to use it to communicate and guide them toward those heartless things?"

"That's the plan."

"But will the bully detectors really be able to sense the darkness?" Goofy asked.

"We won't know until we try." Lewis tapped the big disk on his forehead. "I've increased the sensory range. It should be able to sense things from Wilbur's time machine. We're going to be guiding you guys from the air through the city and exterminating anything we can find. This is going to be fun!"

Donald and Goofy gave each other a dubious look, but Sora came up to Lewis and gave him a high five.

"That's genius!"

"They don't call me the 'Father of the Future' for nothing."

Wilbur twirled the time machine's keys on his finger. "Well, 'Father,' let's go darkness hunting."

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal** _

Lewis (First Appeared in Meeting the Robinsons, 2007): An intelligent boy who loves to experiment and invent. He doesn't give up even when his experiments don't work on the first, second, or one hundredth try. Lewis will eventually grow up to have a big family and become Cornelius, "The Father of the Future." That is, if he survives whatever came to the past to destroy him.


	10. Chapter 9: The Warehouse

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

**_Chapter 9: The Warehouse_ **

* * *

"So far there's nothing in front of you, but I'm getting some strange readings from further up the street."

Sora listened to Wilbur's voice through the special headset that Lewis had made for him. He gave Donald and Goofy a thumbs up and the trope moved down the street. They had been slowly and carefully walking through the city. Goofy held on to the bully detector, while Sora communicated with Lewis and Wilbur. The father and son duo were flying over them in the time machine, keeping an eagle's eye out for any suspicious activity that may be lurking nearby.

It had been an hour and a half since they had started and they hadn't run into the invisible monster, or even a single heartless. Sora was starting to get a little annoyed. Just once, it would be nice if the heartless appeared when they actually wanted them to.

They passed another busy street and walked into the park on the other side. The playground was full of children running, hiding and climbing the monkey bars while their parents and grandparents supervised.

Sora stopped to stare for a moment. He watched a little boy and his two friends playing in the sand. One boy had an talent for making sand castles. The other boy was excitedly cheering on his friend's creation without doing any work. A girl watched the two of them and decorated the sides of their castle with flowers.

Donald poked Sora's side.

"What are you smiling about, eh?"

"Aw, they sure do look cute," Goofy cooed.

Sora blushed. "I was just thinking about home. You know, earlier when we met Wilbur's family, I missed my mom. I wonder if she's worried about me."

Donald and Goofy looked at the all the children on the playground.

"I miss my family too," Donald admitted. "I wonder what Huey, Dewey and Louie are doing, if Daisy misses me back at the castle, what kind of crazy, money making scheme Uncle Scrooge is up to and even if Uncle Ludvig has made some crazy invention."

"Wow, you have a big family too?"

"We all have people we left behind, Sora. Gosh, I miss Maxie everyday."

"Who's Maxie?"

"Max is Goofy's boy. I sure hope he's not slacking off on the castle guard back home."

Sora's jaw dropped. "You have a _son_?"

"Yup. Ahyuck. He's a real good boy, my Max. You kind of remind me of him, Sora."

The bully detector started beeping loudly.

"Guys," Lewis screamed into Sora's headset, "the playground!"

The children's laughter had mutated into screams. Heartless rose up from the sand, grabbing hands and ankles, dragging the kids down. Darkness pooled behind the swing set, and the bowler hat heartless appeared, grabbing children, hoisting them into the air and blocking the panicked parents that had tried to help their sons and daughters.

Sora, Donald and Goofy summoned weapons.

"This is beyond low, even for heartless! Let's get them!"

Goofy charged, his shield raised high. He crashed into the battalion of heartless that had surrounded a group of toddlers. The kids sat and cried, calling for their parents, and were luckily reunited moments after Donald blew away the heartless that had been holding the adults down.

A few families escaped, but the heartless were still coming. A father punched a heartless that flew at his wife and child, while a Grandmother whacked a shadow heartless on the ground with her cane to protect her grandson and husband. It was no use. The heartless rose up and grabbed the father's legs, pulling him down, while the elderly lady's cane was knocked away and she was helpless as the heartless leapt up in the air, ready to slam her down onto the ground.

Sora jumped in front of the grandparents, stabbing the heartless between the eyes with the end of his keyblade. He smacked the next group of heartless backward and once they were a few feet away, he hit them from above with a thunder spell. Then he dashed forward, slicing through the heartless that had dog-piled on top of the father, freeing him.

"It's clear. Go!"

The young father, mother and child moved to escape, but the grandmother and grandfather weren't as fast. Sora stayed in his spot to guard the grandparents and their grandson, repelling incoming heartless with magic.

Goofy managed to free several more children, and Donald reunited them with their parents, even healing minor scraps with magic before sending the families away. The last heartless went down, and finally the bully detector stopped screaming.

Sora turned to the grandmother and grandfather, who were busy trying to soothe their crying preschooler.

"Are you all right?"

The old woman ruffled Sora's hair.

"Oh, thank you, young man. That was very brave."

Sora grinned. "No problem. It should be safe now."

Grandfather had managed to calm the little boy down. He thanked Sora, Donald and Goofy by giving them each a piece of hard, caramel candy. The family walked off hand in hand. Sora watched until they were across the street.

After scanning the area for more heartless and making sure it was safe, the trio regrouped and made contact with Wilbur and Lewis.

Sora pressed the button to communicate from his headset. "Goofy was right. The bully detector does sense when darkness is nearby."

"Looks like the experiment was a success," came Wilbur's voice.

"Yes. I was able to see the attack coming from my monitor, even from up here." Lewis said next. "I'm so glad it worked! I can't believe those things would attack little kids."

Donald fumed. "Stupid heartless."

"We should keep patrollin' the city," Goofy said. "We can't stop until we find that invisible creature."

The bully detector worked like a charm. Within the next few hours, Sora, Donald and Goofy scanned the whole town, taking down heartless in alleys, rooftops, and even in the city streets. It wasn't until sundown when the trio finally reunited with Wilbur and Lewis.

Completely drained, Sora, Donald and Goofy sat back to back on the floor of the time machine.

"Where is that stupid invisible creature," Donald panted, "we're never going to find it at this rate."

Lewis checked his screen. "I'm not picking up anything on the radar. Seems like we've taken down everything in town."

Wilbur tapped the steering wheel of the time machine. "What do we do now? We can't go back to the future until that invisible monster is killed."

"That creature only attacked my inventor's table at the science fair and it hasn't appeared for as long as I've been in the time machine."

Wilbur turned around sharply. "Lewis, you're not suggesting to be bait for that thing, are you?"

"We don't have any other leads, do we?"

"That's a terrible idea. We're not doing it."

"Hey, I'm your father, you have to do as I say."

"Don't play the dad card on me! What if something happens to you?"

"Can't you have a little faith in me? I already saved the future once. And besides, we don't have a better plan."

Wilbur pressed his hands on his face. "I swear you're just as annoying now as when you're older! If mom were here and she were listening to you, she would karate chop your bully detector, sick her frogs on you and laugh as they make you sleep with the fishes. I'm not exaggerating."

"Yes, you are. Franny would never do that."

"That's not the point! You know she's always right and she would think you're being crazy! Let me be the bait. Nothing will happen to the future if I get hurt here."

"Hey, don't bring your mother into this. And this is about protecting both of our futures. I'm not going to put _you_ in danger!"

Wilbur and Lewis glared into each other's eyes until Sora got between the two of them.

"Who said anything about putting anyone in danger?"

"That's right," Donald chimed in. "We're not going to let anyone go in as bait."

"At least, not alone," Goofy said.

Wilbur tapped his foot on the ground. "I really, _really_ , don't like this plan."

"Keep moving forward," Lewis said.

Wilbur glared. "Oh, you just had to use that one on me, didn't you?"

Lewis grinned. "Not fun when your own tactics are used against you, is it?"

"Fine, _Dad_ ," Wilbur relented. "So what's the plan?"

* * *

Sora, Donald, Goofy and Wilbur crouched behind some bushes. Wilbur kept the radar tight in one hand while his eyes searched every direction for movement where there shouldn't be. His other hand rested on top of a can of paint.

Across the street from their hiding spot, Lewis was acting completely normal, as normal as a twelve year old boy could be while wearing a metal headpiece with a mini satellite on it. The bully detector was tucked into his pocket. Lewis sat with a much younger looking Grandma Lucile and Grandpa Bud at a cafe, eating a sandwich. His parents didn't pay attention to the contraption on their son's head as they talked excitedly while sharing their lunch.

Sora watched the people on the street. A fancy car was parked across from the cafe, and a woman with a ridiculously puffy fur coat walked out of it and down the street. A young man jogged by Lewis' table. A group of kids bought some ice cream from a truck that was parked nearby. Wilbur, ever vigilant, glared at anyone that came too close to his father. A dog ran up to Lewis to get some free pets and Wilbur growled until the dog's owner called it away.

Sora put a hand on Wilbur's shoulder.

"Relax," he said. "If something were to attack, the bully detector would go off."

"I can understand how you're feeling, Wilbur, but I agree with Lewis. I wouldn't want to put my Maxie in danger either."

"You guys are really cool, but you don't understand. Parents always talk about how they would do anything for their kids, but they never think about how hard it would be for us to lose them and my Dad should have been the first person to realize that."

"Why?"

"Lewis grew up in an orphanage. My grandma and grandpa adopted him. He should already know what it's like not to have parents."

Sora and Donald opened their mouths to say something, to comfort Wilbur, but couldn't come up with a good pep talk. Only Goofy's good natured kindness was able to give Wilbur some guidance.

"I think you should have faith in him like he has faith in you."

"Faith in me?"

"He wouldn't have asked you to help protect him if he didn't think you could not do it. Family has each other's back, ya know. Just like how us friends do. We won't let anything happen to Lewis."

Sora punched Wilbur softly in the shoulder. "That's right."

Wilbur smiled. "But I still don't like how that lady in the fur coat is smoking so close to my dad."

Sora looked. The fur coat woman was sitting a few tables from Lewis. She was reading a newspaper while green smoke puffed from the long cigarette holder she held between her bony fingers. She was a strange woman. It was too warm to wear such a coat, and her hair was black on one side, and white on the other.

Lewis' bully detector began to beep.

Wilbur looked down at the radar in his hands and then pointed.

"Look over there."

Just a few parked cars down, the leaves on the pavement were moving. There wasn't any wind and the leaves were crunching flat, even though nothing was crushing them. At least, nothing visible. Nodding to each other, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Wilbur watched the leaves. They moved, using the leaves' crunching to slowly creep up on the invisible creature.

Wilbur opened the can of paint and held it carefully under his arm as they got closer. The creature must have been moving very slowly, for there wasn't any sounds of its footsteps, but the cars it passed on the street did sway slightly from its passing.

The beeping from Lewis' headdress had caught the attention of the people on the street and the cafe, but Lewis refused to turn it off. All of the bystanders left the cafe out of annoyance, except for Wilbur's parents and the black and white haired woman in the fur coat. The beeping was a lot faster now, the creature must have reached Lewis. Wilbur jumped out of the bushes, raced across the street and threw his can of blue paint up into the air. It sprinkled down over something and then everyone could see the spiky back of some kind of monster.

The civilians on the street screamed as the paint moved in midair. They began to run away. Lewis' parents grabbed him and tried to flee, but the creature let out a roar and chased after them. Now it was Sora, Donald and Goofy's turn.

They burst out of the bushes, sliding between Lewis and the creature. Sora and Donald blasted it with fire spells, while Goofy threw up his shield, just in time to deflect a blow from the creature's invisible jaw. They spread out, attacking the creature from the front, the side, and the back. The paint on the creature's back spun as the creature turned, throwing Sora, Donald and Goofy back as something thick and muscular hit them from the air. Caught off guard, Sora he fell onto his back and barely had time to react when he heard the stomps of the creature as it approached him.

He threw a fire spell into the air, hoping to push the creature back. The fireball hit something directly in front of him, and the asphalt to his right cracked. A second later, he felt as though someone had broken an egg on his head and then blue paint dripped onto his shirt.

He looked up. Wilbur was above them in the time machine, dumping paint down onto the ground. The creature was now completely covered and they could see its entire outline. Sora rolled away and regrouped with Donald and Goofy, who were staring at the monster with open mouths.

It was a T-rex, and it had turned around to charge at the three of them. Sora, Donald and Goofy split up. Donald ran into a nearby alley, where the creature couldn't enter because of its size. From his safe spot, he threw ice and lightning spells at the T-rex, while Sora and Goofy engaged it from the ground.

Goofy shielded Sora from the T-rex's bite, giving the keyblade master enough time to move under the T-rex and slash at its belly. The T-rex reared back on its hind legs and tail, roaring. Goofy took this moment to throw his shield at its face.

Sora attacked the two legs, and the T-rex lost its balance and fell on its side, crashing into the parked cars on the street. Donald came out of the alley, a lightning spell buzzing at the end of his staff. Goofy jumped up in the air, his shield under his feet. Sora charged at the creature's belly.

The thundaga spell shocked the T-rex's entire body, Goofy smashed down on the creature's neck with his shield, and Sora gave one powerful, final slash at the creature's gut. There was an explosion and then the painted outline of the creature was gone. Goofy landed in a heap on the paint splattered floor, but stood up with triumphant smile.

"So it was a heartless after all," Sora said, watching as a glowing, pink heart flew up through the air, disappearing into the clouds.

Donald jumped a full three feet. "Yeah! We did it!"

Wilbur landed the time machine on the ground. But when the glass dome of the time machine opened and Wilbur tumbled out, he didn't look happy. His face was green, his legs shaking. A second later, he fell to his knees. Sora, Donald and Goofy were next to him in seconds.

"Are you okay?"

"No." Wilbur croaked. "I don't think I can hold out much longer. Something's wrong. Lewis."

It was just then that Sora looked around the street and spotted Lewis' parents. They were speaking to a police officer. While Donald and Goofy looked after Wilbur, Sora went toward Lewis' parents. Just a few steps away, he heard the terrifying news.

"She was wearing a white coat, and she drove a long, sleek, red and black car."

Sora raced back to his friends. Goofy lifted Wilbur's head off the floor and Sora put Wilbur's arm across his shoulders. Together, they helped Wilbur back into the time machine and sat him down in one of the chairs. Sora went to the controls and grabbed the steering wheel.

"Can you really drive this thing," Donald said.

"Can't be that different from driving the gummi ship."

Too frantic to put that much thought into what he was doing, Sora let instinct take over, and luckily, they were up in the air in a few moments. He let the time machine hover for a little while and then checked on Wilbur. Donald was funneling healing spells into him and Goofy had given him potions, but Wilbur didn't look like he was getting any better.

Wilbur coughed. "It's Lewis. What happened to him?"

"That weird lady you were worried about earlier, I think she kidnapped him."

"I knew she was suspicious!"

Wilbur's outburst made him hack and he turned over, looking as though he were about to retch. Goofy produced a bucked from somewhere and Wilbur hurled. When he had finally stopped, he reached out for Sora with a pale, sweaty hand.

"You have to find him and fast. The future."

"I know."

"But how are we going to find them? We don't know where to look," Donald said.

"The radar, and the bully detector," Wilbur pointed to the front seat.

Sora gathered up Lewis' inventions. The radar was still beeping.

"Lewis made them so that they can track each other. Hurry."

Goofy took the radar from Sora.

"I'll keep an eye out. You drive."

Wilbur turned on his side and curled up into a ball. Donald casted another healing spell on him.

"Thanks," Wilbur whispered and then feinted.

"We have to hurry," Donald said, "the magic isn't going to last forever."

The yellow dot, which indicated Lewis' position, on the radar, was moving. The friends flew over the city, chasing it. Sora parked the time machine in the air over a warehouse on the outskirts of town. From above, the building looked as though it could collapse at any second.

Carefully, Sora landed the time machine in the alleyway next to the warehouse. He climbed out with Goofy right behind him. Donald didn't leave Wilbur's side.

"I'll stay behind with him. Get Lewis out of danger."

"We will," Sora said.

Goofy handed Donald an ether. "I'm running low. We may need to stock up again soon."

"Be careful," said Donald. He closed up the time machine.

Sora and Goofy stepped around to the side of the warehouse. All the window and doors were barred and covered by wooden planks. The front door didn't have a lock for Sora to open with his keyblade. It too was boarded shut. The only way in was the old fashioned way. Hiding behind Goofy's shield, the two friends rammed the front door, breaking through the wood and crashing into the warehouse.

The first thing they noticed was the dust. Sora and Goofy picked themselves off the floor and sneezed. A nice layer of brown covered the old, yellow, linoleum floor. Shelves of moldy cardboard boxes, rotting wood, and rusted metal were laid out before them. The shelves stretched up toward the high ceiling and into the darkness that obscured the innards the warehouse. Broken light bulbs hung from the ceiling, swaying back and forth, making a high pitched creaking that echoed through the large space.

Sora and Goofy stepped carefully down the aisles. They passed by the shiny, red and black car Sora had seen parked on the street when Lewis was at the cafe. From the front, the headlights of the car looked like scowling face.

The car's location marked the end of the aisles. The dark warehouse suddenly burst with lights, blinding them for a moment. When Sora finally got used to the brightness, he felt cold, wet dread lick the back of his neck.

The block long warehouse ended in a large empty space filled with broken scaffolding on the back wall. Shards of glass and old, forgotten materials were littered all over the floor. All the way across the room, sitting in a lonely chair, right in the middle of the huge space, was Lewis.

Ropes were tied around his body and his mouth was hidden under a white cloth. Next to him, breathing out a long, thin line of gag inducing, green smoke was the black and white haired woman from the cafe. Sora and Goofy raced forward, their weapons drawn.

"Ah, ah, ah," the woman wagged her finger.

The bully detector in Goofy's hand beeped. Heartless appeared next to Lewis.

Sora and Goofy froze.

"Don't you know how a hostage situation works, you fools? You don't want the future ruined, now do you?"

Sora lowered his weapon. "What do you want?"

"That ridiculous contraption there." She pointed to Goofy's bully detector.

"How do I know you'll let him go if we give it you?"

"By my name as Cruella De Vil, you have my word that I'll let the brat go. Now hurry up. I can't guarantee what those heartless will do."

Sora took the bully detector from Goofy and slowly approached the skeletal woman. She snatched the walkie-talkie out of his hand with a wide, pointy smile. Then she raised her cigarette into the air and the smoke at the tip hardened and congealed into a green fireball. She aimed at Lewis.

Goofy didn't hesitate. He threw himself forward, shield up, crashing into one of the heartless just in time to protect Lewis from the fiery attack. The green flames burst around his shield but Lewis was unharmed.

Sora lunged at the woman, Cruella, but heartless appeared in his way. As Sora and Goofy battled a wave of heartless, a familiar shadow loomed over the back wall of the warehouse. Sora recognized that long, thin silhouette. It was Dr. Facilier.

Cruella threw the bully detector and the shadow caught it with one hand. Then it snuck up behind Goofy and Lewis and lifted the other bully detector from Lewis' belt. Goofy thrusted his shield at the shadow but it quickly sank into the ground, sliding away with the bully detectors.

Sora slashed through another wave of heartless and barely had any time to defend himself as Cruella threw another ball of green flames his way. Using his keyblade like a baseball bat, Sora knocked the spell away from him and the fireball crashed against the weak roof, making the entire warehouse shiver.

The shaking walls distracted the heartless, allowing Goofy to finally untie Lewis. The boy jumped out of his seat and ran. Goofy chased after Lewis, deflecting heartless as he ran back into the aisles of the warehouse. A group of heartless jumped in the air, ready to dog-pile Goofy, but Sora destroyed them with a lightning spell, finally allowing his friends to escape.

He moved to follow his friends, but heartless appeared in his path. As Sora made quick work of them, he sensed something hot on his back. He jumped to to the left, just in time to see a green ball of fire char the heartless he had been fighting. Turning around, he saw another fireball coming at his face.

Sora rolled out of the way. Across the room, Cruella's already messy hair was spiking up hideously around her face as she threw fire spells nonstop. Her spells fanned out like a whirling hurricane, attacking Sora and the remaining heartless. He jumped and ducked, but the spells were sticking to the floor and walls, giving Sora less and less space to maneuver.

"First you stopped my plans to make the perfect puppy coat and now this!"

The smell of cigarette smoke was Sora's only warning that another fireball was coming his way. He dodged to the right, barely avoiding the green flames as the spell zoomed past and crashed into the aisles behind him. Then he was backed into a corner. Pushed between the warehouse wall and a barricade of fire, all he could do was smack the incoming spell back at Cruella. It flew at her head, but she simply spread out her fingers and the fireball dissipated before it could burn what little skin was left on her thin face.

"Puppy coat?" Sora panted. "What are you talking about?"

"My Dalmatians, you imbecile. If you and your disgusting animal friends hadn't found them all, I would have had a glorious new fur coat by now."

She summoned a fireball three times as huge as the last and it seared through the air. There was no way to block that one, and Sora had no choice but to roll through the flames on the ground to avoid it. The fireball slammed into the warehouse wall where he had been second before, leaving a black hole in the concrete.

Sora patted down the green flames on his clothes, casting a healing spell on himself to ease the burns. Fury roared in his heart. His grip on his keyblade tightened until his entire arm twitched.

"You were the one that separated Pongo and Perdita from their puppies? All to make some stupid coat?"

Cruella lifted up her arm. Another blast was coming, this one almost as tall as the warehouse aisles. "And I was so close too," she hissed.

"How could you kill puppies for a fur coat? What's wrong with you?"

"Naive boy, don't you know that animals only exist for the enjoyment of people?"

Sora felt an anger eat away at his bones, and he charged through the fire toward Cruella, ignoring the burning on his legs and the crackling of the flames in his ears. Just a few feet away, he raised his keyblade, ready to throttle her, but she simply flicked the giant fireball at him.

The impact was like hitting a burning, sandpapered wall. Sora fell against the ground, smoking from head to toe, barely able to lift his arm and cast a healing spell on himself. The warmth of the cure spell did little good, only keeping him conscious.

There was a whisper in his ear.

"Sora, are you okay?"

Jiminy.

"I can't get close," he panted, slowly turning over to stand back up.

From behind his hood, he felt something light fall off of him. Then he spotted a little spec jumping over the green flames on the ground. It was nearing Cruella.

Sora waved his arm. "Hey, Cruella, your fashion sense is so last week."

"Excuse me? All those ridiculous zippers and you call my fabulous outfit outdated."

"Not just outdated, tacky."

"Why you-"

She lifted her hand in the air, a fire spell as big as a semi truck pooling at the end of her cigarette holder. Cruella swung her arm back. Sora covered his face, preparing for the attack. Jiminy jumped on Cruella's hand and pulled her fingers free. The cigarette holder came lose, the fireball flew up into the air. The warehouse ceiling exploded.

Debris rained down on Sora and Cruella.

Panic overruled Sora's exhaustion. He jumped, ducked and weaved as broken scaffolding, metal beams and glass stabbed into the floor. In the midst of all the running, Sora spotted Jiminy on the ground, hiding under his umbrella, barely avoiding the chunks of ceiling that were ready to squash him. Sora turned around, and ran toward Jiminy, scooping him up. He tucked the cricket into his pocket and then had to raise his keyblade over his head to stop a piece of the ceiling from giving him a concussion.

Cruella screamed. Her coat was caught under a fallen beam from the ceiling and she was desperately trying to dislodge it, not noticing that the concrete slabs right above her head were dangling by a single thin, metal string. The slabs came lose, and before Sora could even try to rush to help her, she was buried under several tons of metal and cement.

The ceiling wasn't finished breaking apart, and Sora jumped out of the way as a rockslide of bricks came crashing down toward him. The walls were beginning to crumble inward, trapping Sora. Something shined about his head, and he looked up to see the time machine coming down from the sky.

Goofy was hanging out of the side of the time machine, holding onto Donald's legs.

Donald reached out for Sora. "Grab on!"

Sora leapt, his hands clamping down on Donald's wrists.

Goofy roared from above. "Pull!"

Sora was lifted up into the air. The time machine weaved between the falling pieces of the building. Sora felt his legs get nicked and scratched by runaway rubble, but then Goofy and Donald finally pulled him into the time machine. He crashed into his two friends. Behind them, Lewis closed the time machine's glass dome.

"Wilbur, jump to the future!" Lewis commanded.

The crumbling warehouse vanished. Bright colors erased everything. Donald and Goofy held onto Sora as they flew through the rainbow tube. The old fashioned city with its brick buildings and pollution inducing cars had disappeared, replaced by the bright and shiny city of the future.

Wilbur flew them straight to the Robinson house, and landed the time machine on the lawn just as the entire Robinson family came running out.

Inside the time machine, Donald and Goofy fussed about Sora, but he waved them off.

"I'm okay, I'm okay! Really."

"Why'd you have to take that crazy lady on by yourself," Donald demanded.

"I didn't take her on by myself. Jiminy had my back. Thanks pal."

From behind Sora's hood there was a little chuckle. "Anytime."

"Wilbur, open this time machine right this minute, Mister!"

Franny's furious voice made Wilbur hide behind Lewis.

"Maybe you should go first, Dad."

With an annoyed sigh, Lewis opened the time machine's dome and hoped out. The mere sight of him cooled the fury in Franny's eyes and she threw her arms around him.

"Oh don't tell me you were in danger again!"

"I'm okay. Really. I'm fine."

"We sure are," said a familiar voice.

The entire family turned around to see Cornelius Robinson walking out of the house. Without missing a beat, Lewis went up to his older self and gave him a high five. Wilbur jumped out of the time machine and ran to his dad. Sora, Donald and Goofy watched as the father and son hugged, until the rest of the family pulled them out of the time machine to join in on the celebration.

After getting thanked personally by everyone, and even getting a kiss on the cheek from Mrs. Robinson, Sora, Donald and Goofy found themselves in the grand dining room of the Robinson house. Everyone was eating PB&J sandwiches.

"Have you seen any more heartless in the future," Lewis asked his older self.

"Not since the five of you came back. I haven't gotten any reports from the city."

"Does that mean that the heartless problem is done," Wilbur asked.

"Maybe," Lewis said, "but we won't know for sure. Hey, remember those bully detectors I made when we were kids?"

Cornelius tapped his nose. "Hmm, yeah, we did make something like that. But I remember that they disappeared."

"Might want to try and remake those bully detectors. Although I think they might need a better name at this point."

"How about darkness detectors? If those heartless come back, we'll be ready."

Watching Lewis and Cornelius talk gave Sora a headache. Time travel was crazy enough, but Lewis and Cornelius acted as though talking to yourself was like talking to your best friend.

"So what are you guys going to do now," Wilbur asked.

Sora's mouth was too full of peanut butter to talk, but Goofy answered for him.

"Well, if the heartless problem is solved and the future is saved, I guess we should be continuing our travels."

Cornelius dug into his pocket. "Before you go, I wanted to give these to you."

He handed Sora, Donald and Goofy a pin. Donald and Goofy immediately put the rocket shaped pin on their shirts.

"What are these?"

Lewis and Cornelius shared a look and winked. "Think of it as a lucky charm. Might come in handy."

"Wow. Thanks."

"I really should be thanking all of you guys," Lewis said. "For saving me, for saving Wilbur, and for saving the future."

After dessert was served, Wilbur took Lewis back to his time. Sora, Donald and Goofy said goodbye to Cornelius and his family. As they were leaving, just outside the Robinson house, a light flashed in the corner of Sora's eye. Turning around, he saw that the big letter R that hung over the front door of the Robinson mansion was gleaming. Donald and Goofy watched as the letter faded, to be replaced by the shape of a keyhole.

Raising his keyblade, Sora sent a beam of light into the keyhole. There was a click, and the keyhole faded. The world locked, and a warm breeze flowed over the lawn, through the future city in the distance, and through time, giving Lewis a sense of closure when he returned to the past.

* * *

The darkness' whispers were soothing but the deeper he fell into sleep, the harder it became to breath.

_Stay asleep._

"No."

_What good would it do for you to go back?_

"I have to go back. I have to see my friends."

_What friends? Can you even remember their names?_

He didn't have an answer.

_You abandoned them. You opened your heart to darkness. They don't want you back._

But he wanted to see them, even if he didn't deserve to. He wanted to know they were safe, he wanted to say sorry, he wanted...he couldn't remember. The darkness smothered him back into oblivion and the more he tried to fight it, the harder it squeezed his heart.

Something sliced through his sleep. It pushed the darkness away and then he remembered something. Names.

Sora.

Kairi.

And one more name.

Ansem.

He resisted the darkness, swimming up against the harsh current of the black depths that were trying to pull him back down, reaching toward a tiny star above the surface of the dark water. The light blinked in and out, yet still he reached for it. Even if it were small, even if were far away, he knew he had to get it.

The darkness spoke.

_Why fight?_

He didn't answer, he kept swimming.

_I am a part of your heart now. You will have to face me sooner or later._

The star was just ahead of him. He reached up to grab it but the darkness gathered around his chest like the claws of a monster, pulling him back.

_You've been in the realm of darkness too long. You're mine now._

The star was getting further and further away. He scratched and struggled against the tendrils of darkness that wrapped around his body. A weapon appeared in his hand, and he sliced the darkness, but it was not enough. More dark hands appeared to try and drag him down.

Then something came down from above, white and hot like lightning. The dark hands loosened just a tiny bit and he wriggled free, swimming up and breaking through the surface. He rolled over onto a shiny, colorful glass platform, gasping for breath.

Finally able to stand on his feet, he looked down. The dark ocean he had swam through was gone. Instead, he saw a picture of himself on the disk-shaped platform below. A silver haired boy rested against a tree with star shaped fruit. He stood alone, looking out into the sea.

He was finally out of the dark. It was safe to wake up.

Riku opened his eyes. In his half awake state, he could feel the darkness lingering in his heart, but now that he was awake, he was more equipped to fight it. The world around him was completely black. He was still in the realm of darkness, but he knew that there must have been some new light in that realm, otherwise he never would have had the strength to wake up.

His heart seized, and for a moment, Riku thought he heard a familiar voice.

"Kairi?"

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal** _

Cruella De Vil (First Appeared in 101 Dalmatians, 1961): A fashion obsessed woman who wanted to use Pongo and Perdita's puppies to make herself a fur coat. Her greed and obsession proved to be her downfall.

Riku (First Appeared in Kingdom Hearts, 2002): A responsible boy from Destiny Islands and one of Sora's best friends. He disappeared into the darkness after Sora and Mickey closed the door. No one knows what happened to him, or if he is still fighting the darkness on the other side.


	11. Chapter 10: The Forest of Spirits

**Disclaimer** : I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, nor any of the Disney Characters in this story. The following is purely fan made. Please support the original work.

* * *

**_Chapter 10: The Forest of Spirits_ **

* * *

A purple vortex revealed Sora, Donald and Goofy re-entering the castle's foyer from the dimensional door. Dr. Facilier watched the trio.

"So much for the Ms Fationista," said the fire headed god next to Dr. Facilier.

The witch doctor smiled, pulling out a walk-talkie from his pocket.

"Cruella may have succumbed to her own insane hatred, but she still did her job."

"And just what do you plan to do with those, my shadowy friend?"

"Oh, you'll find out, sooner or later."

"You know, I've worked with three old, wrinkly fates that are less cryptic then you."

"Thank you for the compliment." Dr. Facilier inclined his head.

The so called God of the Underworld clicked his shark teeth, and then shrugged. "Whatever. As long as what you're doing gets rid of those three yutzes, I'm not going to complain."

"Speak for yourself," said another in the room.

The old man in minister's robes walked forward and gazed into the window in the air. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the image of Sora, Donald and Goofy speaking to the so called "treasure hunter."

"What a disgusting display," said the old man, curling his lip at the treasure hunter. "Clearly a gypsy, that man. How you can stand to let that filth stay in this castle is beyond me."

He waved his hand, as though shaking off a piece of dust from his fingertips.

"Tell me, are the rest of us to share that boorish woman's fate?"

Dr. Facilier bowed graciously at the old man. "Cruella was consumed by her own need for vengeance of course, but that doesn't mean that one so noble as yourself must follow her example."

"Don't patronize me."

"Not at all Your Grace. And fear not. The boy found another keyhole. Everything is still on track. As long as the two of you do your part, all will be well."

* * *

"Whoa kid, what happened to you?"

Locke pointed at Sora's clothes.

"What did you do, jump from paint buckets into a mud puddle?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, I'm a mess, but that's not important right now. Did anything strange happen while we were gone?"

"Sure did."

Locke pointed over his shoulder to the entrance wall of the castle. The wall was more translucent then ever. Just beyond the thin, white material, Sora could see a blurry, dark blue something. Maybe it was the sky?

"Oh boy," Donald jumped, "does this mean we can finally get out of here?"

Sora knocked on the wall. While the cold surface wasn't visually sturdy, it was still felt too hard to break through.

"What's causing this wall to look weaker. Is it because we're going to a different world each time we travel through the castle door?"

"And what about Dr. Facilier. We still don't know where in this castle he is," Goofy added.

"Or what he's going to do with Lewis' bully radar," Sora said.

"Don't forget that man in the black coat," Jiminy whispered in Sora's ear.

Locke snapped his fingers in front of Sora's eyes. "So are you guys going to tell me what you're talking about or do I have to piece together the story myself?"

When Donald and Goofy finished filling the treasure hunter in, Locke leaned back against the castle wall and crossed his arms.

"That explains the green smoke."

"Green smoke?" Donald repeated.

"As soon as you guys went through the door, just as it was closing, there was trail of green smoke following you. By the time I got to the door, it was already closed, and the smoke had passed through. I couldn't pull it open after that. Seems as though the door locks on this side after you three close it."

Donald huffed. "So that's how Cruella got into that world."

"Did you see anything else? Like the shadow of really thin guy?"

Locke shrugged at Sora. "Other then the smoke, there was nothing. In the ten minutes you guys were gone, that's all that happened."

Donald quacked. "Only ten minutes?"

Jiminy hopped out of Sora's hood and went to the transparent wall. He opened his journal and began writing.

Sora knelt down behind him.

"What are you up to?"

"I'm writing down all the clues we have so far. This wall gets thinner every time we go to another world. The door locks from this side when we enter, and it seems as though time works differently in here then in the worlds through that door." Jiminy tapped his feather quill on his lower lip. "But what could it all mean?"

"Maybe we just need to do like Lewis said, and keep moving forward," Goofy said. "But I sure wish we could resupply on some potions and ethers."

"If it's supplies you need, I got them," Locke said. "Though they don't come cheap."

"We have a lot of munny," Goofy said, digging into his pocket.

"Not munny. Got anything from that world you visited? Any special treasure?"

Goofy pulled out the button that Cornelius had given him from his pocket. "Will this do?"

Locke took the button from Goofy, turning it over. On one side, there was a rocket ship. On the other side, the button was smooth and flat. Locke bounced the button up and down in his palm and grinned.

"Yup. This will do."

For a guy that didn't look as though he had pockets, Locke produced a lot of glass bottles and vials seemingly out of nowhere.

"And as a special gift." Locke winked, pulling out a glass vial with swirling, galaxy colored liquid. "One elixir."

"Gosh! Thank you, Locke."

While Goofy carefully stocked up on supplies, Donald came to stand next to Sora and leaned up to whisper in his ear.

"There's something I want to try when we go to the next world. Don't do anything there until after I've checked."

"Okay," Sora whispered back.

Jiminy finished writing and hopped back up into Sora's hood. Goofy put away his newly bought supplies. After saying goodbye to Locke one more time, the trio passed through the door.

* * *

The realm of darkness felt different then the last time he was awake. There was a hint of a scent that Riku couldn't put his finger on. He tried to think back to what had helped him wake up, but the memory of his dream was hazy. He walked with his weapon, the soul eater, in his hand, keeping an eye out for heartless while trying to figure out his next move at the same time.

The last thing he remembered was closing the door with Sora and King Mickey. Had he fallen asleep right after? Riku put a hand over his heart. And, at least, Sora and Kairi were safe.

Or so he hoped.

For a split second, right after he had woken up, he thought he had heard Kairi's voice, but it must have been his imagination. He was alone. Even King Mickey had vanished. When the realm of darkness had been cut off from the realm of light, something had forced him into a deep sleep, something strong enough to separate him from the king, but what could it have been?

Riku stepped on something squishy. Looking down, he felt his blood run cold as a shadow heartless had appeared in the ground. It wrapped its hands around his leg and soon, Riku found himself being dragged down.

Riku swung his the soul eater and sliced the heartless' arms. It let him go, and he pulled his leg free. Yet, he wasn't finished fighting yet. More heartless appeared on the road before him. Riku charged and slashed through the first wave easily, but another squadron of heartless appeared right after, converging on him.

Gasping, Riku fought the next wave, and the next, until the sweat was dripping from his face. His entire body ached from exhaustion. The soul eater was too heavy to lift and his arm fell limply to his side. The heartless had slowly morphed from simple shadows, to menacing dark balls, and, finally, to powerful neo-shadows.

The hungry creatures had pushed him to the edge of the platform he had been standing on. Riku stared at the line of heartless advancing toward him. His head swam in a thick fog, his knees shook, and a voice spoke from deep inside him.

_Why don't you control them? You did it before._

"No."

The voice was silent, but its presence was not gone.

A neo-shadow lunged at him.

Raising his weapon, Riku was able to stab the heartless right in the gut, making it explode in the air, but he didn't have any time to react when three other heartless came at him from the front, the left, and the right. They grabbed his arms and pushed him down. Riku could barely breathe under all the weight, but he forced himself up against the heartless' crushing downward push.

No energy left to fight, Riku rolled, falling off the edge of the platform and taking the three neo-shadows with him. The fall was enough to send the three heartless flying off, but Riku had no way of stopping himself from splattering into the platform down below.

Something hit him in midair, and Riku was knocked out cold.

* * *

The chirping of birds and the whistling of wind moving through the leaves met Sora's ears. The smell of fresh spring and the softness of the grass under his feet was a much more welcome feeling after the dreary, rotting space of the warehouse in the last world. Too bad his clothes didn't look any less messy.

Goofy went to the nearest rock and sat down to stretch and Sora was about to join him before he felt a tugging on the back of his shirt. Turning around, he saw Donald point to the door that led back to Castle Oblivion.

"Lock the door so that nothing follows us this time."

"Good idea."

Sora stood in front of the white door and aimed his keyblade at it. A second passed, and the keblade didn't respond. Sora swung the keyblade again at the door, but there wasn't even spark at the end of his weapon.

"What are you doing, Sora?" Donald snapped impatiently. "Lock the door."

"I'm trying, but the keyblade's not working."

Sora inspected the door. There was a handle, but there was no lock. Grabbing the handle, Sora tried to pull it open, but the door didn't budge.

"Come on!"

He swung his keyblade again but the weapon refused to respond.

"This is so weird. Usually, the keyblade would react to it!"

Goofy left his rock and put his ear to the door. Then he knocked on it.

"Gosh. Maybe the door to Castle Oblivion works differently then the other doors."

"Maybe it won't let us pass back through until we're done with this world."

"Aw phooey." Donald kicked the dirt. "I was so sure we could lock it too."

Sora checked the other side of the door, and had no luck finding a lock on that side either. Something blue flickered on the forest floor by his feet, erasing all thoughts of the door from Sora's mind. The blue speck danced around his legs and then floated away.

A whisper fluttered through the air. It was so quiet that Sora felt as though he had heard it in his thoughts, but then Donald and Goofy looked around the forest, searching for the sound.

The blue spec reappeared a few feet away.

Sora moved toward the blue wisp but it was gone just as he took a step. Up ahead, another blue wisp appeared. This one moved, and Sora heard the soft whispers coming from it.

Donald came around the door and pointed. "What's that?"

The wisp blinked out.

"Donald," Sora whined, "why'd you have to be to loud?"

"I was just asking a question!"

"Hey fellars, there it is again." The wisp had moved to shimmer between two trees just a few more paces ahead.

Donald charged. "Get it!"

He lunged forward, his greedy fingers wrapping around the blue spec. The wisp blinked out before he could get his feathers on it and Donald crashed into the floor, right in the middle of a clearing in the woods.

Sora and Goofy followed Donald into the clearing and then marveled at the sight around them. They stood on an emerald green hill, surrounded by thirteen-foot-tall stone pillars that were arranged in a circle. Scratches and scuffs decorated the pillars. Sora wondered if the stones were naturally set up in a circle, or if someone placed them in that pattern. Before he could ask his friends about it, the crunching of leaves drew his attention back to the forest.

A girl and a big, burly man with puffy, red hair rolled out of the trees and right into the middle of the stone circle. The man raised a sword high and brought it down on the girl. She blocked easily with her own sword and danced around him to try and slash at him from behind. He blocked her by throwing his sword over his shoulder. With a grunt, the big man threw her back and the girl nearly crashed into one of the stones.

"Keep yer elbows up, girl!"

The big man roared, charging.

Sora and Goofy slid between the two. Goofy blocked the sword strike with his shield, allowing Sora to shove the big man away. The man fell backward into the grass, his blue eyes wide with surprise. He kicked his peg leg in the air as he tried to regain his balance. Donald used this chance to grab the sword from the man's hands.

Goofy charged to help his friend. "Don't worry, miss, we'll handle this!"

By this time, Donald and Goofy had piled up on the big man. The man thrashed.

"Sora! Get in here," Donald called.

"He's really strong!" Goofy grit his teeth as he tried to hold down the man's arm. 

The big, red haired man grunted. "Merida! Help!"

Sora ran forward, his keyblade up. Something swept in front of his shins and he fell face first into the dirt. Raising his head, and spitting out a mouthful of fresh earth, Sora saw something shine from above him.

"What are ya doin' to my Dad?"

Looking up, Sora saw the girl. She drew back her bow, aiming an arrow at him.

"Let him go," she commanded Donald and Goofy.

The duck and the dog got off the big man. He sat up, rubbing his forehead.

Sora stood. The girl tightened her bow string in response. It was a warning.

He put up his hands. "I'm not going to do anything. I swear!"

"Who are ya? What are ya doin' here?"

Donald and Goofy abandoned the big man and got between Sora and the girl.

"Hey! Put that done before you put someone's eye out," Donald growled.

"Gosh, miss. We're sorry. We didn't know he was your dad."

"Yeah," Sora added, "why was he attacking you with a sword?"

"We were sparing, ya dumb lad."

The big man had now completely recovered. He came to stand next to his daughter, and nodded to Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Aye, twas just a friendly bout between father and daughter." He ruffled the girl's already messy, bright red hair. "Got to make sure my little girl has got her wits about her."

"You need to keep your wits about _you_! They almost had ya."

The girl finally put down her bow and arrow and bowed her head. Her long, unruly hair spilled over her shoulders. She raised her dark, green skirts in a curtsy that did not suit her at all.

"I am Merida. First born of Clan DunBroch and this is my father, King Fergus."

Sora, Donald and Goofy never got the chance to bow because King Fergus darted forward to poke Goofy's shield.

"You blocked me sword with this wee thing? And you, young man, that is some weapon. No one can push the Bear King back, 'cept me big, strong, girl here."

Fergus' entire barrel chest puffed up as he laughed. Shaking her head, Merida moved passed Sora, Donald and Goofy to pick up her sword, which lay on the grass at the base of the stone pillar. Sora watched her slide the sword into the sheath on her hip.

"You use a bow and a sword?"

"Archery is my specialty. Though I'm not bad with sword either."

"That's my girl!"

"Daaaad."

Fergus cleared his throat and then faced Sora. "So, what brings you three to my lands."

"We were chasing some blue, fiery thing here," Donald answered.

"The will-o'-the-wisps are back?"

Goofy tilted his head. "Willa-the-what-now?"

Merida snorted. "Will-o'-the-wisps. They're spirits that live in these forests. Some say they lead ya to yer fate. Though, why are they here?"

Fergus put his big hands on Sora and Goofy's shoulders. "Let's think later, lads. For now, join me us at our camp! We'll eat and then have a rematch! I want to see what that strange sword and that shield can really do."

Sora, Donald and Goofy quickly found themselves following Fergus and Merida back to their camp. After a short walk, white triangle tents appeared at the bottom of a green hill. Men were riding their horses around the camp, sparring, or training the hunting dogs. A feast was set up on one of the tables. Fruits, fresh bread, chunks of cheese, plates full of giant turkey legs and the most savory looking ham Sora had ever seen.

King Fergus walked them to the table and then growled. Three little boys, all with identical red puffs of hair, were sitting on the table, gobbling up a plate piled high with jelly tarts.

"Hubert, Hamish, Harris! I leave ya three alone for one minute and you're attacking the sweets! Eat some meat for goodness sake! You three are going to get a tummy ache."

King Fergus lunged forward to try and grab the triplets, but the wee devils were fast. Giggling, they darted off into the camp, with King Fergus chasing after them. His peg leg slowed him down, but he still he barreled through the camp after the three boys. Merida watched, laughing loudly at the scuffle.

"Well," she turned, "dig in, you three. You'd best eat yer fill before my dad comes back."

"Don't mind if I do!"

Donald stuffed whole pieces of bread and cheese into his mouth.

Goofy joined in. Even Jiminy hopped onto the table to take a bite out of an apple but Sora wasn't feeling partially hungry.

"You said earlier that those will-o'-the-wisps lead you to your fate. What did you mean?"

"Ach! Mysterious those things are. They led me to a witch last time, and I made one big, dumb mistake."

Merida picked up her bow and quiver and walked across the camp to where an archery range was set up. She rolled her shoulders, notched an arrow on her bowstring, aimed at the target, and fired.

Bullseye.

"But if it weren't for that witch, my mum and I would still be arguing."

Sora clapped. "Wow! You're a really good shot."

"Aye," Merida winked, "no one's got my skill for shooting." She held out her bow. "Want to try?"

Sora took the bow from her hand and tried to mimic her stance. Pulling the bow was a lot harder then he had first thought. Even worse, the arrow wouldn't stay straight.

"Pull back to yer cheek," Merida instructed.

Sora did as she said. The bow shook in front of him, and he tried to line up the tip of the arrow with the target. He fired. The arrow flew through the air. And thunked into the dirt several feet in front of the target.

Merida laughed. "Reminds me of my first shot."

"Think I'll stick to magic," Sora said.

"Magic? Really lad?"

"What, you don't believe me?" Sora summoned his keyblade, raising it so that the end of the weapon lined up with the target in the distance.

"Fire!"

A ball of flame shot across the field and burned the target to a crisp. Merida whooped.

"That was amazing! Say, how about a match, your sword against mine, eh?"

Sora rested his keyblade on his shoulder. "Bring it."

Merida unsheathed the sword at her hip. "Ready?"

The second Sora nodded, she lunged. He easily sidestepped and parried her next attack, but Merida was fast. She jumped back, circled around him and then aimed a jab at his head. Sora raised his keyblade to block and then found himself on the floor as Merida had used his reaction to switch targets and sweep her leg under his feet. Before she could claim victory, Sora rolled and tried to slash at her side. She caught his keyblade with her sword and pushed him back.

Sora darted forward to start the next round of attacks when he saw something blue and shiny over Merida's shoulder and stopped mid step. The next second, Merida had knocked him down and had forced the keyblade out of his hand with her sword.

"Hah! I win."

Sora stood, dusting off his pants. "You sure did."

"What happened at the end there? You better not have let me win."

"Actually I thought I saw one of those willow things a second ago."

"Will-o'-the-wisps, lad."

"Right. It was over there."

Merida turned. Sora was pointing down a trail that led out of the clearing and into the woods.

A will-o'-the-wisp appeared under the tree. It whispered, beckoning. When Sora and Merida reached the tree, the wisp had vanished. It reappeared by a rock further up the trail. Sora and Merida followed it through the forest, until the air became thick and cold with mist and the wisp completely disappeared.

They slowed down, walking carefully through the silver fog. The trees lost their green luster the further they went in. Skeletal branches, broken logs, and the mangled remains of a ruin appeared through the mist. Sora took a step and then the ground under his foot melted. He tripped. In front of his eyes, the ground split open. He managed to regain his balance just in time to keep himself from falling into the hole in the floor.

Something looked up at him from down below.

Someone with silver hair and light, blue eyes.

Sora's heart skipped a beat. He looked down into the dark ruins. The person was gone.

"We shouldn't be here." Merida's voice trembled. "These ruins used to belong to Mor'du, the demon bear. Why would the wisps lead me here again? What more do I need to learn?"

Sora jumped down into the ruins. Merida called after him from above but he didn't listen. Summoning his keyblade, Sora stepped deeper into the large underground room. The walls were covered in deep claw marks. Broken weapons and shields littered the floor, and there was a turned over table against the wall.

Someone moved through the shadows. A boy stood in front of him, a boy that stretched out his hand as if to say, "come with me."

Sora rushed forward.

"Riku!"

The ground above him rumbled, the ceiling hissed as dust and rocks came lose. From above, Merida screamed. Sora looked around the room, casting a fire spell, lighting up his surroundings. He was alone.

Quickly he climbed back out of the hole and came to stand next to Merida. She was aiming her bow into the mist, ready to attack whatever was thundering toward them. A giant, black, something appeared in the fog.

Merida drew back her bowstring.

Then a horse jumped over a pile of ruins and skidded to a stop in front of Merida.

"Angus?"

The horse whinnied, stomping around in a circle.

"Whoa," Merida put up her hands, "easy there, Angus."

She put her hand on the horse's muzzle and looked into his distressed eyes.

"Something's wrong."

Merida pulled herself up onto the saddle and then reached down to grab Sora's hand.

He settled into the saddle behind her and then they were off, racing back through the mist and into the forest until Angus skidded to a stop in the middle of Merida's camp. He pounded the floor with his hoof as it to say it was their stop.

It didn't take long for Merida and Sora to realize what was wrong.

The entire camp was deserted.

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal** _

Merida (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): A headstrong and free-spirited princess that loves the great outdoors, archery, and a good sparring match. She's curious about the will-o'-the-wisps and why they appeared before Sora.

King Fergus (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): The "Bear King" of Dunbroch. Like his daughter, he is loud and easygoing, though he tends to lose patience with his triplet sons whenever they cause trouble.

Hubert, Hamish, and Harris (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): Merida's triplet brothers. Wee devils with a knack for stealing jelly tarts and getting into all sorts of trouble.

Angus (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): Angus is a powerful shire horse who serves as Merida's loyal companion and best friend. He went after Merida because he sensed danger, but what could have spooked him?

Will-o'-the-wisps (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): Blue, spiritual, ethereal beings that represent past lives. The legends say that they lead people to their destinies, so why do they keep appearing in front of Sora?


	12. Chapter 11: The Vanished

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any of the Disney/Square Enix characters that appear in this work. Please support the original releases.

* * *

_**Chapter 11: The Vanished** _

* * *

Skin crawling silence filled the space where there was once lively chatter, barking dogs, and the clangs of swords and arrows hitting their targets. Angus' hooves echoed as they rode through the camp, staring at the steaming plates of food, the forgotten armor, and all the fallen weapons on the floor.

There was no rips in the tents. The grass was unmarked by the glittery residue left by magic. Sora searched for weapon or claw marks, but there was nothing, no clue. It was as though the people, the horses and the dogs just decided to leave everything behind and go.

Merida called for her father and brothers while Sora searched for Donald and Goofy. Only the rustling and chirps of the forest responded. Dread rattled like rocks in Sora's stomach. His keyblade appeared in his hand. He tensed, waiting for the inevitable sizzle that tingled in the air seconds before heartless would appear. Merida saw his weapon, and set an arrow on her bow. Angus pulled back his ears. A breeze went over the grass, caressing Sora's face, sending a chill down his neck.

Nothing happened.

Merida put down her bow, and gave Sora an impatient look.

"What are we waiting for?"

"That's strange. Usually, I'd get attacked by heartless the second something weird happens."

"Heartless? What are ya talkin' about?"

"They're dark creatures that go after people's hearts."

"I don't like the sound of that, lad. You think these monsters got rid of everyone here?"

"Maybe."

Merida narrowed her eyes. "Maybe? That's all ya got?"

"Well, usually they attack me everywhere I go and every chance they get, but here, it's just quiet."

Merida whistled and Angus lurched forward. Sora grabbed the saddle before he could fall off.

"We won't get any answers just standing round here. Let's search the area."

After an hour of galloping through the surrounding forest there was no sign of Merida's family, her father's men, or Donald and Goofy. Merida went back to the circle of stones where she had met Sora for the first time. There, she inspected the stones, squinting at their carvings as though waiting for them to break like a cornered prisoner and tell her everything. While she was distracted, Sora snuck off to the Castle Oblivion door. Maybe Donald and Goofy had gone back. He couldn't think of any reason why the two of them would willingly leave him behind, but he felt the need to check regardless.

The door was gone.

Sora looked around the clearing, and even tried summoning the door with his keyblade, but there was no response from his weapon. He felt his worries twisting in his throat. He tried to swallow them down, but his heart wouldn't be quiet.

A will-o-the-wisp appeared in the space where the door had been. It whispered and then zipped away.

Sora followed the blue spec. It led him back to the stone circle, back to Merida, but it didn't vanish.

The wisp flickered.

It stretched, growing taller and wider.

Angus slammed his hoof on the ground, disturbed.

The wisp morphed from a blob into the shape of a boy. A boy with shoulder length, spiky hair. Sora's heart beat even faster.

"Riku."

The blue light of the wisp blinked out.

"Wait!"

Sora ran around the rocks, searching, but it was no use. The wisp was gone and all that was left in his head were questions. Merida grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"What was that?"

"That wisp. He looked like my friend. What does that mean? What was it trying to tell me?"

"I don't know, Sora. Wisps are a mysterious thing."

"Do you think they're responsible for everyone's disappearance too?"

Merida's brows came together in a frown. "I don't think wisps are dangerous. Maybe everyone in the camp went back to the castle in a rush."

"They went back to the castle and just left all their things behind?"

"Maybe it was an emergency? It makes more sense then people just disappearing. Ach! More questions. I'm just as confused as you."

"So what do we do?"

"We're going back to the castle." Merida grimaced. "We're going to talk to my mum."

* * *

They were sitting, side by side, watching the sun set. Riku was leaning against the paopu tree with his arms crossed, talking about seeing other worlds. Sora was lying back, lazing on the tree's curved trunk, relaxing his head on his hands, looking forward to tomorrow. Kairi watched the sunset, feeling the breeze and the warmth of being with her two best friends.

Yet, she was afraid.

" _Say Kairi, what was your home like. You know, where you grew up?"_

What if she had told Sora the truth?

" _I told you before. I don't remember."_

But what could she have even said to him? The dark memories of her past would have ruined their search for other worlds.

" _Nothing at all?"_

_"Nothing."_

That was a lie. She did remember something. Before she came to Destiny Islands, there was one memory. How could she have told her friends about the night her home decayed from a black disease that tore hearts out of people, the warnings in her grandmother's fairytales and the fear that she might have been the only person that had survived.

But she should have told them. Maybe then they would have been more careful. Or would it have mattered? Would the three of them still be apart? Was that how things were always going to be? Separated from the people she cared about most?

Kairi swam in a bright void until her feet touched something cool. Silver doves appeared out of the whiteness, fluttering for a moment before once again vanishing out into the bright nothing beyond. Light glittered below her feet. Looking down, she saw the image of Destiny Islands on a stained glass platform. In the picture below, she sat with her friends on the paopu tree, watching the sun set. On the other side, opposite the picture of the sunset, there was an image of a girl, a dog, and a rabbit facing the darkness together.

Which was the right path to take? Was it to chase after old friendships or new ones? She leaned down to get a closer look at the two images.

The glass below her swayed back and forth.

The platform slanted diagonally, the ground curving upward below her feet. She ran, her shoes sliding on the glass, and her body tumbling forward. Her hands pressed against the smooth surface, her fingertips burning as she slid downward. Kairi pushed with her legs, and managed to get her fingers around the edge of the platform. Her feet hung over the white nothing below, and yet the platform kept tipping forward like a sinking ship. A few more seconds and there would be nothing left to hold on to.

The white world around her began to shift, getting darker and darker until it was completely black. Words without a voice echoed around her. Her ears didn't tingle with sound, her eyes didn't see the letters, but she knew them in her heart as though they had always been there.

_The closer you get to the darkness, the stronger your light must be in order to pierce through it._

The platform tipped too far and Kairi's fingers slipped from the smooth edge. She fell into the abyss, down and down in endless darkness until the blackness shifted again into grey and then into a white so blinding that her eyes stung.

Kairi sat up.

The white world around her faded as more colors appeared. Blurry shapes came into focus and slowly, the dream faded from her mind. She was in a pink bed. Her legs were tangled in silk bed sheets, and she wasn't alone.

Something stood next to her.

Kairi kicked the blankets, skittered toward the edge of bed, and crashed onto the floor with her feet still on the mattress. There was a sweeping noise. Her surprise overruled the pounding in her head and she jumped to her feet, moving backward, away from the thing that was creeping closer and closer.

"Brooms don't move," she whispered, "this is a dream. Right. A dream. Brooms don't move and they definitely don't have arms to hold a tray full of...pancakes?"

The broom didn't seem offended by her surprise. It simply bowed and extended the tray in its hands, as if to say, "please eat."

Slowly, as though making a false move could send the broom into a sweeping frenzy, she took the tray. Before she could think to say thanks, the broom turned around and walked out the door.

Kairi sat on the bed, staring at the white door the broom had walked through for a full minute before the temptation, and her stomach, made her finally look at her breakfast.

A plate with three pancakes. They were arranged in the same mouse-shaped symbol that had been on the letter Pluto had given her on the Destiny Islands. There was also a silver cloche. Kairi lifted the cloche, and saw a plate of steaming eggs and bacon underneath. The three sunny side up eggs were also arranged in a mouse shape.

Her stomach rumbled and in the next five minutes she had devoured her food so fast that her throat was dry from thirst. As if summoned by her thoughts, the door to her room opened and the broom came back in with another tray. This one had a cute, pink teapot, teacup, a bowl of sugar, and a glass of milk.

A duck came into the room behind the broom. She walked with a noble's grace, her hands folded daintily in front of her lavender gown. Delight danced in her blue eyes, her beak curved into a smile.

"Oh, you're awake. Thank goodness." She waved at the broom. "Would you please go get me a teacup as well?"

The broom put down the tea tray, picked up Kairi's used breakfast tray, saluted the duck with one arm, and then swept out of the room. Moving around to the side of Kairi's bed, the duck picked up the teapot and poured green liquid into the cup. She handed the cup and saucer to Kairi.

The herbal steam of the tea warmed her hands and face.

"Sugar dear?"

"Yes, thank you."

While Kairi spooned three heaping teaspoons of sugar into her tea, the broom returned and handed the duck the teacup she had requested. Its chore done, the broom promptly left. Once they were alone again, Kairi cleared her throat.

"Don't know how I got here, but thank you for the breakfast and the tea. My name's Kairi, by the way."

"I am Duchess Daisy Duck. A pleasure."

"You remind me of Donald. Do you know him?"

"Oh?" Daisy's eyes narrowed as she took a sip of her tea. "You've met that good for nothing, have you?"

"Well, I sort of met him, it's more like-"

Daisy slammer her tea cup against its saucer. "That big, dumb buffoon! He hasn't sent me a single letter since he left on his mission! If the king can send Her Majesty letters then so can he. Here I am, worried sick and he-"

She looked sharply at Kairi.

"Wait, how do you know about Donald? You're from another world. That must mean that you met him during his mission."

"Technically I know him and Goofy through my friend Sora. He has the keyblade and-"

Daisy almost spilled her tea.

"Do you mean the key that the king mentioned? What happened to Donald? And Goofy? Are they all right? Did they accomplish their mission?"

"I think so. I haven't seen them since my world was brought back and-"

Daisy grabbed Kairi's wrist. "You must meet with Queen Minnie. There is no time to waste. Come with me."

Kairi stumbled out of the bed after Daisy, spilling her tea onto the floor. For such a small duck, Daisy was shockingly fast. She pulled Kairi through a pearly white castle so quickly that Kairi's head spun. They exited out into a topiary garden. The hedges were perfectly trimmed and the entire garden looked like an orchestra of dogs, pigs and cows playing trumpets, horns, drums and cymbals.

At the center of the garden was a yellow, purple, and blue flowerbed. A topiary castle, the size of a small cottage, sat in the center of the flowerbed. Sitting next to the castle, sipping tea from atop a crystal table, was a regal mouse in a pink gown. Across from the mouse was a young woman, wearing a flowered hat.

Completely ignoring the other woman, Daisy dragged Kairi to the mouse in pink.

"Majesty Minnie, I have very important news."

The mouse's long lashes rose up into her forehead. "Daisy dear, now is not the best time to, oh! She's awake."

Kairi tried to bow politely to the queen, but before she even got the chance, the other woman stood quickly.

"Ah yes! Majesty Minnie, I know exactly when I felt the need to visit here today."

"Oh? And what could that be, Mary?"

"It's because of this girl."

* * *

Sora leaned over the side of Angus' saddle to look at the stream under the stone bridge. Down below, people were lugging barrels full of water from the stream up the toward a door that was hidden into the side of the hill.

Across the bridge, Merida's castle stood tall on a cliff that overlooked a scenic, perfectly still lake. The hearty stone of the castle felt strong and ancient, blending perfectly with the rich, green mountains in the distance. When they entered through the gates, Sora didn't know what to look at first. Stablehands were busy brushing, cleaning and feeding the horses, maids rushed to and fro with basketfuls of laundry and food for the kitchen, chickens clucked all over the courtyard, servants laughed with guards at their posts and Merida just rode through it all without a second glance.

She parked Angus at his stall at the stable, grabbed Sora's hand and led him through the castle's doors into a stone audience hall. Sora was still too busy looking around to notice Merida run up to a woman sitting in one of the three thrones.

"Mum! We have a problem."

The woman gave Merida a surprised look, but quickly smoothed her features into a professional mask.

"Ahem, we have a guest," she pointed at Sora.

Merida waved her arms. "He's with me, Mum. Listen, Dad, Hubert, Hamish and Harris-"

"Merida, it's rude to speak without including others."

"Mum! This is important."

"So are manners."

Merida groaned. "Fine. Sora, this is my mother, Queen Elinor."

Sora bowed.

Elinor nodded reverently at Sora and he couldn't help staring at the emerald green gem in the center of her crown.

"Your Majesty," Sora began, "we might need your help."

Merida launched into a desperate explanation of what had happened. Elinor quirked an eyebrow at her daughter's sudden return to impolite behavior, but listened patiently to the story. By the time Merida was finished, Elinor put a hand over her mouth and chin, making her look both worried and deep in thought at the same time.

"The boys, well, have a knack for getting into trouble, but it's unlike Fergus and the men to just leave you behind. You say you've been seeing more wisps lately?"

Merida nodded.

With her hands folded in front of her emerald gown, Elinor glided out of the throne room. Sora and Merida followed her up the steps to the second floor of the castle and entered a small library. Elinor stopped in front of a bookcase full of letters and scrolls. She reached into the many rolls of paper and pulled out a book that looked as though it could crumble into dust if someone so much as breathed on it.

Elinor turned the yellowed pages until she came upon a picture of a wisp. She slide her finger over the writing on the next page and began to read.

_"Will-o-the-wisps are nothing more then children stories. They are small, quiet and shy creatures that guide the lost and lead people to their destinies. Sometimes they grant wishes, and other times they teach harsh lessons. The wisps can be just as mischievous as they are playful. They're said to be attracted to light and laughter."_

Elinor stopped reading and looked up toward the ceiling.

"That's all?" Merida huffed.

"Fairy tales exist because the story is so old that a lot of information is lost. And sometimes, it's better not to know the whole story." Elinor gave Merida a stern look. "Now is a good chance for you to practice being a proper princess."

"Ugh, Mum."

"You're going to call in the soldiers and command a large scale search for the will-o-the-wisps."

"Why bother when I could just go to the forest and investigate myself? I'm much faster then a battalion of brutes."

Elinor drew a sharp breathe, annoyance tightening on her face. Then she relaxed and exhaled slowly. "I don't want you to disappear like your father and brothers. I'm only worried."

Merida's frown vanished. "Right, I'll be careful, Mum, I promise."

"Don't worry," Sora interjected, "I can make sure she's safe. I'm sort of, um, experienced in handling monsters. If there's something out there to worry about, I can handle it."

Merida lightly punched Sora's shoulder.

"I can take care of myself, ya know."

"Then let's just say I got your back."

Merida grinned. "Please Mum? This is something I can do, something I can learn from experience. We promised to try things my way sometimes."

Elinor looked from Merida to Sora. Her face was stony, authoritative. Then she closed her eyes.

"Promise that you will report to me at the first sign of trouble. And, young man, please watch out for my rowdy girl."

Merida jumped around in a circle. Then she attack-hugged her mother singing, "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Elinor stiffened like a pole when Merida pinned her arms to her sides, but then she melted and carefully patted her girl's messy hair. A moment later, she cleared her throat and Merida let go.

"I think I may have something to produce the light the book speaks about. Follow me."

Elinor led Sora and Merida to a storage room. The small space was bustling with craftsman organizing, sending out materials, and carefully balancing wooden boxes one on top of the other. The second the servants spotted Elinor, they stopped what they were doing, stood up straight and cleared their throats.

"Hello, gentlemen," Elinor greeted, "has the delivery for Merida's room come yet?"

"Yes, Majesty," one of the craftsman said.

He gave Elinor a parcel wrapped in brown paper.

"A delivery for my room? Mum, what is it?"

Elinor thanked the craftsman and then cautiously unwrapped the paper. Inside was a rainbow disk of stained glass. The disk was as thick as a textbook.

"You broke your window glass when you were trying to save me from staying a bear forever," Elinor said.

Sora blinked at Merida. "Did she say bear?"

Merida's cheeks turned the same color as her hair, making her look like an overgrown tomato on a dry vine.

"It's a long story." She waved her hand. "Anyway, my window has already been fixed so, why the glass?"

"I thought it would be nice to change it a bit, so I ordered some stained glass. It was supposed to be a surprise, but there are more important things to worry about now."

Elinor moved out of the storage room. Merida and Sora followed her to the courtyard, where she lifted the glass up to the sun. Colorful raindrops of green, blue, red, orange, purple, and yellow light glittered over Elinor's dress and onto the ground.

"Wow," Sora whistled.

Elinor produced a drawstring bag and put the stained glass inside.

"Use this to try and lure out the wisps. Please be careful."

Merida carefully tied the bag around her belt. "I will, Mum. I'll be back with Dad and the boys before your know it."

* * *

Merida raised the rainbow disk to a streak of sunlight that poked through the treetops. The stained glass casted glittering shadows over the forest floor. Angus trotted easily over fallen logs and boulders, his ears up and relaxed. Sora watched the specs of light dance over the grass and leaves. He kept an eye out for any blue wisps, but the longer they trotted in silence, the more he felt his mind wandering.

He worried about Donald and Goofy, and questioned why the wisp had taken Riku's shape. Maybe Donald and Goofy had seen the wisp too and had gone after it. But again, Sora couldn't believe they would leave him behind.

They stuck together. All for one and one for all, like they promised. Donald and Goofy wouldn't just pull a disappearing act, not without telling Sora first. They would have at least left Jiminy behind to convey a message.

"Sora," Merida whispered, "do you see that?"

Straight ahead, a wisp was floating above the green shadow cast by the glass. Merida pulled Angus to a stop. Carefully, she and Sora slid off the horse's saddle. Merida took the reigns and led Angus to a nearby tree.

"Stay here."

Angus didn't seem too eager to follow. He bent his head down and began to graze while Merida and Sora tiptoed closer to the wisp. Singing, the wisp drifted over the ground, guiding them deeper into the forest until the trees began to lose their leaves, and the air became white with fog.

Merida placed an arrow on her bow. She slowed down her movements, stepping carefully over rubble and fallen logs. A lonely monolith appeared out of the grey void. Sora and Merida walked up broken, stone steps toward it.

A pair of axes were carved onto the monolith.

Merida traced the axes with her finger. "Mor'du's castle."

"Mor'du?"

"The demon bear," Merida explained. "He was once a prince, but his hunger for power made him into a monster. He's the reason my dad has a peg leg."

"Whoa. What happened to the bear?"

"My mum took him down."

"Your _mom_ did that to a demon bear?"

Merida winked.

"So you don't just get your strength just from your dad then."

"Nope. Don't tell her I said this, but Mum is very brave. The wisps brought my mum and me here last time. If it weren't for her, I would've been Mor'du's lunch."

They walked deeper into the ruins. The stones were scarred by deep claw marks. Parts of the ancient castle had crumbed into heaps of rubble. An eerie wind whispered from the ruins. Merida rubbed her arms.

"Why do the wisps keep bringing us here?"

Sora walked around a crooked pillar. There was a hole in the floor. He tapped his feet. The ground was hollow. He looked down at the base of the pillar and saw that there was an opening big enough for him to squeeze through.

"Over here."

Looking inside the hole, Sora saw the remains of a throne room. Rotting chairs, piles of rocks, stone walls that looked as though they were as unstable as dominoes, told him that the room below had been abandoned for a long time.

Sora and Merida jumped in. When they laded, the room rumbled. Dust and dirt rained from the ceiling. Sora's back tingled, as though someone were watching him.

He turned.

A blue ghost stood behind him.

The ghost of Riku.

The ghost smiled and outstretched his hand again.

It walked backward into the darkness on the other side of the throne room.

"No, wait!"

Sora lunged into the darkness, ignoring Merida's calls. The shadows of the throne room embraced him as he raced through a long, stone tunnel. Seconds later, he found himself back outside. The Riku lookalike stopped in front of the monolith. By the time Sora caught up to it, the spectre had vanished.

The cobblestones under Sora's feet shivered, blue fireflies shined in the crevices between the stones. The fireflies rose up from the ground, gathering into a ball right in front of Sora's eyes. The ball got bigger and darker, morphing from shiny blue to a shimmering purple and then to black.

A thick arm appeared out of the blob of darkness. It reached out, ready to claw Sora across the face. An arrow sunk into the arm, making it pause. Then the arrow was pulled into the black creature's body, like a stick being swallowed by a bottomless sea of mud.

A hand clamped around Sora's wrist. Merida tugged him away from the smoking, black creature.

"Don't just stand there! Run!"

The black ball melted, spilling into the ground. It roared after them like a toxic tidal wave.

Sora threw his keyblade at it, but the dark tide kept advancing. Summoning his keyblade back, he tried attacking with fire magic, then ice, then lightning. The magic simply faded into the black water.

Merida and Sora jumped over the debris of the old castle. Behind them, the dry, dead trees crackled and snapped as the darkness ripped through the ruins in pursuit.

The mist cleared, revealing a cliff just a few feet ahead. Sora and Merida skidded to a stop, their toes just barely over the edge. Down below, harsh waves crashed into the sharp rocks of a river and right behind them, the black ooze was slowly creeping up.

Merida pointed.

"The disk!"

The stained glass had fallen out of her pocket when she had rushed to stop. She reached out and grabbed it seconds before the dark sludge covered the ground where it had been.

Stuck between a cliff and the ooze, Sora and Merida shot magic and arrows at the sludge, but it was no use. The ooze was almost to their feet.

Desperate, Merida waved her arm. The stained glass in her hand caught the sunlight. The ooze shivered. It stopped in front of the little yellow spec of light that was reflecting from the glass.

Noticing this, Merida held the glass up. The light reflected on the trees just beyond the ooze. The black sludge shifted, as though turning.

Sora watched the sludge chase after the light like a cat trying to catch a firefly. His keyblade hummed in his hand. Lifting it, he aimed the tip of his keyblade at the glass.

A razor sharp beam of light exploded out of the disk. The muscles in Sora's arm tightened and Merida could barely keep the glass steady. The beam flew all around, completely out of control. Is seared the black liquid, the trees, and even dug into the stone floor beneath them.

The ooze recoiled, twitching.

It moved back, deeper and deeper into the trees.

Slowly, Sora and Merida moved away from the cliff, directing the beam further into the mist.

The sludge fled into the fog. Gone. Sora's arm was throbbing. He released his keyblade and fell on his hands and knees, gasping for breathe. Merida collapsed against a tree and closed her eyes.

"My shootin' arm feels like it's going to fall off."

"Yeah," Sora coughed, "making that beam takes a lot out of me."

"Talk about luck. Ugh. I need some water."

Merida and Sora went back to Angus and the horse easily led them to a stream in the middle of the forest. After drinking their fill, Sora helped Merida build a fire. She used her archery skills to catch a few fish. Once Sora's belly was full, he stared into the stream.

"I'm sorry Merida."

"What for?"

"For letting my guard down. I was so desperate to try and catch that wisp, the one that looks like my friend. We almost got splattered because of me."

"Don't worry so much about it."

"But, it wasn't the right choice. Your dad and brothers are gone. Donald, Jiminy, and Goofy are gone, but all I can think about is Riku."

"Aw, wee lamb. Quit your moping."

She thumped Sora so hard on the back that he fell, face first, into the stream. Spluttering out of the water, Sora spotted Merida on the ground, kicking her feet and snorting with laughter.

"Oh yeah?"

He summoned his keyblade and hurled a mini tidal wave at Merida.

The water slapped her in the face, flattening her puffy hair. She stared at Sora with a confused look for two seconds before she jumped into the stream next to him. And then the two of them were throwing around so much water that Sora's hands got wrinkly.

"All right, you win!" Sora panted, shaking water off his hair.

Merida stretched. "Well I feel better, don't you?"

"Yeah. I don't have time to worrying. We've got to get our friends back."

"Right. And now we know that that dark creature is weak to light. Time to set a trap."

* * *

Sora leaned back to admire his work. He had to hand it to Merida: the girl sure knew how to make a trap. They had returned to the ruins. Carefully, Merida and Sora had hidden mirrors and pieces of glass in the floor, between cracks in the rubble, and in the trees. The reflective surfaces sparkled, even in the mist. Now they just needed to lure the ooze into it.

Merida closed an eye and pointed. "I think we've got the angles just right. Now we have to hit the right mirror and we've got an instant light storm."

She climbed one of the trees and placed the stained glass disk between the branches. Jumping back down onto the ground, Merida waved at Sora.

"Ready to go hunting?"

Sora grinned. Raising his keyblade in the air, he chanted. "Thunder!"

Lightning rained down from the sky. The mist parted and beams of sunlight sprinkled over the ruins. Artificial fireflies glowed on the floors, trees, and ancient debris, brought to life by the reflections of all the hidden mirrors and glass. Sora and Merida ducked behind a fallen pillar and waited for the black sludge to appear.

And they waited. And waited. And waited. Almost two hours later, Merida was yawning and Sora had sunk down so low against the rock, he was practically lying down. He turned onto his knees, and peeked over the pillar.

The Riku lookalike stood in the middle of their trap.

It turned to where Merida and Sora were hiding and shook its head.

Merida leaned in to whisper. "Is your friend trying to tell us something?"

The lookalike vanished.

There was a thunderous stomping that was getting louder. Merida readied her bow, Sora summoned his keyblade. They kept their eyes on the ruins, searching for the black sludge.

But the vibration wasn't coming from the ruins. It was coming from behind. A horse galloped out of the mist and into the sunlight. It skid to a stop, neighing angrily at its rider and tapping its hoof on the ground. The rider's face was as red as his hair. He fell off the horse, right at Merida's feet. Merida turned him over and Sora recognized the rider's guard uniform. He had seen it back at the castle.

The man on the floor could barely breathe.

Without missing a beat, Sora raised his keyblade and chanted a healing spell. The rejuvenating magic flowers gave the man back his energy. He sat back up with a gasp and grabbed Merida's shoulder.

"Princess, you have to come back to the castle immediately! We're under attack!"

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal** _

Queen Elinor (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): Queen Elinor is ladylike and strict, leading her people as both a diplomat and paragon of elegance. She can be stubborn like her daughter, which leads the two of them to argue at times. Despite this, Elinor loves Merida very much and does soften a bit when she compromises with her.

Daisy Duck (First Appeared in Mr. Duck Steps Out, 1940): Duchess of Disney castle. Daisy is Queen Minnie's lady in waiting and best friend. She can be a bit single-minded and spoiled, but Daisy is also loyal to her queen and castle. She worries for Donald's safety, though she won't admit it.

The Brooms (First Appeared in Fantasia, 1940): Enchanted brooms that serve as Disney Castle's servants and guards.


	13. Chapter 12: Light Lessons

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any of the Disney/Square Enix characters that appear in this work. Please support the original releases.

* * *

**_Chapter 12: Light Lessons_ **

* * *

"Now hold still, please."

Mary stretched a long ribbon of measuring tape from the top of Kairi's head to her feet.

Holding up the tape, Mary looked at the result. "Just as I expected. 'Determined yet surprisingly lazy.'"

"What?" Kairi snorted. "Let me see that."

"As you wish."

Kairi took the tape from Mary and held it up above her eyes. Right there, in bold print, the tape indeed said that she was determined and lazy. Unable to resist, Kairi tried measuring Mary. The older woman stood completely still as Kairi measured her from the bottom of her polished, black boots to the neat bun of dark-brown hair at the top of her head.

Kairi read the results to herself.

"Mary Poppins. Practically perfect in ever way."

Kairi stared. Mary's smile was full of secrets. She took the tape measure back with a quick "thank you" and tucked it into her pocket.

"Now then," Mary clapped her hands, "shall we begin?"

"Begin what?"

"Your magic lessons of course."

"What? Magic lessons?"

"Yes, dear. That's the reason that you are here."

"But, I thought-Daisy said I needed to talk to the queen."

"Ah. Of course. Majesty Minnie," Mary called.

By this time, Daisy had taken Mary's vacant seat at the garden table. The queen, Minnie, her pinky raised, was sipping tea across from Daisy. The pair of them looked as though they were having an ideal Sunday afternoon.

Queen Minnie looked from Kairi to Mary and giggled. Daisy pressed the back of her hand on her forehead and let out an exhausted sigh.

"Oh go ahead," she huffed. "I'll tell Her Majesty everything. Why don't you two come back after your magic lesson?"

"Yes," Minnie added, "we'll meet after the lesson is over."

Mary Poppins bowed. "Thank you, Majesty. Come along now, Kairi."

"How did you know my name?"

"Spit spot. No time to waste."

"But-"

Mary pointed to the topiary garden. "Let us leave Her Majesty to finish her tea. We have much to do."

Kairi felt like a toddler that was easily handled by an experienced granny. Except Mary wasn't anything at all like a granny. She had fair, smooth skin, with rosy cheeks. Tall, with perfect posture, wearing a navy-blue dress with a red bowtie, and yet she still walked with a spring in her step.

They stood in the flower bed between the topiary castle and the surrounding orchestra. It was then that Kairi noticed the purse that Mary was holding in her hand.

"That's a nice bag."

"Carpet," said Mary.

"The bag is a carpet?"

"No, made of."

Mary opened the carpet-bag and pulled out a long, black umbrella with a green and blue, parrot-shaped handle. This wouldn't have surprised Kairi so much, if it weren't for the fact that the umbrella was much longer then the bag was deep.

She inched closer and looked into the bag, but saw that its insides were completely normal, and empty. A moment later, Mary bent down onto the ground and the bag swallowed her arm up to the shoulder. She rummaged around as though she were sticking her arm into a deep hole.

"Now where did I put that silly stick. I know it's in here somewhere."

She pulled out a wooden stool and laid it on the grass.

"Wow!"

Kairi measured the stool. It was tall as her hip. Either Mary was a magician or her bag was a black hole.

"How are you doing that?"

Mary blinked at Kairi. "Whatever do you mean?"

"How are you getting all those big things from that tiny bag?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about. Ah! Here it is!"

Mary straightened. In her hand was a conducting baton. She placed the carpet bag on the wooden stool and then faced Kairi with a wink.

"Now then. I assume you know some magic."

"I know one spell."

"That will do for now."

Mary waved the conductor's baton. Kairi yelped, covering her ears. The entire topiary garden erupted with a swelling crescendo. The cows, dogs and pigs were no longer frozen in time. They played their instruments to the beat of Mary's conducting.

The music slowed, becoming quiet for a moment. Mary spoke over the hum.

"Now then. Show me what you can do. And don't fret too much, please. There's no danger to be had from a garden."

Before Kairi could say "huh" the nearest topiary animal launched itself at her. She jumped back and then felt the ground pounding below her feet. A green, bushy dog was stomping toward her with its horn blasting air at her face. The base tones of the horn were like a hammer pounding on Kairi's head.

She looked at Mary, her eyes full of questions, only to see Ms. Poppins happily conducting away without even looking at the animals.

So that was how Mary wanted to play.

"All right. I'll just have to rain on her parade."

Kairi charged toward the topiary dog with the horn. She raised her arm and shouted.

"Water!"

A blast of liquid slammed into the horn, drowning out the sound. The topiary dog turned the horn over to inspect it. While it was distracted, Kairi threw another water spell at its bushy feet. The dog slipped.

There was a crash.

Strange.

Rather then coming from the dog, Kairi felt a crash booming behind her.

She covered her ears, her teeth grinding together. Turning around, she was too slow to dodge the topiary pig that was charging at her. The pig spread its arms wide and then caught her between its cymbals. Kairi grunted as the leaves and branches pressed into her face and back.

"Now that's quite enough," came Mary's calm yet commanding voice.

The topiary pig pulled the cymbals apart, freeing Kairi. She landed back on her feet just Mary came to stand next to her, waving the conducting baton at each decorative bush.

"Back to your places, please."

All the topiary animals went back to their original spots and stopped moving. Mary threw the conducting baton over her shoulder and it flew right into the open mouth of the carpet bag. Minnie and Daisy applauded from their tea table.

"A good effort, Kairi."

Mary raised her black umbrella. A green powderpuff of flowers exploded from the tip. The petals rained down on Kairi. She felt lighter. Her bruises vanished, and the leaves and twigs fell away her clothes and hair.

"You have talent. I'm sure you'll find my lessons quite diverting."

Kairi blushed. For some reason, being complimented by Mary made her feel like a kindergardener being praised for answering a trick question. If only Sora and Riku were there. The whole scene would have been perfect with the two of them causing trouble while Kairi watched and waited for the inevitable scolding.

"I must be off," Mary said.

"What? I thought you were going to teach me magic."

"Exactly. To do so I must go and get some proper materials. See you soon."

Mary reached into her carpet bag, took out her flowered hat and then opened her black umbrella. She raised the umbrella into the air, and just like that, her feet left the ground. Kairi watched as Mary hovered for a moment before a blast of wind came right out of nowhere and nearly blew her away. Struggling to stay standing, Kairi watched as Mary flew up and up, out of the topiary garden, and out of sight. The moment she was gone, the wind died down.

"Quite the delight, isn't she?"

Kairi turned. Queen Minnie had finished her tea and had come to stand beside her. Kairi curtsied.

"No need for that, dear. That was quite a show. You certainly have some magic."

"Thank you. Um, pardon me, but where did Mary go?"

"Oh, she comes and goes as she pleases."

"How?"

Queen Minnie put her palm on her chin. "Well, I'm not quite sure. Perhaps it has something to do with her umbrella. But we'll speak about Mary later. I wish to know about this news Daisy told me about. Come, let's go to the library."

* * *

From the outside, Merida's castle looked completely normal. It wasn't until they passed through the gates that Sora realized what was missing. The chatter, the movement, and the people, were all gone.

"It's just like the camp," Sora said.

Merida jumped off Angus' back. The guard that had accompanied them ran ahead of her, his sword raised.

"Stay back princess, it could be back any second."

Merida pushed him aside. "No time for that now. Where's Queen Elinor?"

"The guards took her down to the kitchens where she would be safe."

Merida ran into the audience room. All that was left of the castle doors were the splinters that were splattered all over the floor. The entire room smelled of smoke. The sconces, chandeliers, and candle holders along the walls had been ripped out and thrown down, covering the floor with wax.

Merida and Sora walked, back to back, weapons raised, with the guard trailing close behind. When nothing jumped out at them from the corners of the room, Merida raced through the castle and down the stone steps to the kitchen.

From the outside, barrels, boxes and anything heavy were thrown in front of the kitchen door. Sora and the guard helped Merida push aside the junk, leaving a small space for Merida to squeeze through.

She banged on the kitchen door.

"It's Merida! Let me in!"

There was a chorus of grunts from inside the kitchen. The door was pulled open from the other side and Elinor squeezed through the few remaining guards and servants. She threw her arms around Merida.

"I'm so glad you're safe."

"Mum, what happened?"

Sora felt a tingling on his back. When he turned around to look down the hall, cold sweat rose up on his neck. "Merida, we have a very big problem!"

Elinor's face became so pale that she looked like a porcelain doll. Merida turned. Down the hallway, the sludge she had fought in the forest was oozing toward them like a dark flood.

"Majesty, get back!"

The guards inside reached out, grabbed Merida and Elinor and shoved them into kitchen with the servants. They lined up with Sora, their swords being freed from their belts.

In the kitchen, Merida tried to join the fight, but was pulled back by Elinor.

"I already lost your father and the boys. I can't lose you too."

"Mum, I have to help!"

The ooze was inching ever closer to Sora and the guards. He raised his keyblade and sent a blast of light toward it. The ooze shivered. It began to slush faster through the narrow hall. Sora tried hitting it again with another blast of light, but it was like throwing matches in a blizzard.

"The light's not strong enough. We need the glass."

The guards roared. Pointing their swords at the sludge, they charged.

"Wait!" Sora called.

But it was already too late.

The first guard reached the ooze and stabbed his sword into it. Back tentacles spread out from the sludge, wrapping around the sword and the guard's wrist. The black sludge crept up the guard's arm, covering his chest, his neck, his face, and his screams. Then the guard was gone, and the sludge expanded.

The next few guards hesitated.

One of them turned and pointed to Sora and then to the kitchens.

"Protect the queen and the civilians."

"But-"

"Go! If it catches them, all of our sacrifice will be for nothing! There's a hidden door in the kitchen. Use it to escape while we keep this thing busy!"

"I can't just leave you guys!"

"We're soldiers! We protect the weak! That's our job! GO!"

Sora ran back into the kitchens and slammed the door behind him.

"We need to get everyone out," he told Merida.

The servants busied themselves with clearing a space on the floor. They opened a hidden trap door. One by one, Merida and Sora helped herd the people inside, all the while ignoring the sound of screams and clangs coming from the hallway.

Elinor slipped into the secret tunnel and Merida followed her. Sora was just about to jump down to join them, when he heard a terrible crunch. Looking over his shoulder he saw the kitchen door crack right down the middle. The crack branched out like a tree, spreading through the wood. The ooze was dripping in through the fissures.

Sora jumped into the tunnel, threw the door shut over his head. He raised his keyblade. A lock appeared overhead. Light passed through the keyblade and the trapdoor disappeared above him.

"Sora!" Merida called from further up the tunnel. "Hurry!"

They raced to catch up with the servants and the queen. The people huddled together under the flickering torchlight. They moved, single file, through the moist earth and stone until they came to another door. Pushing it open, the servants spilled out into the light.

Sora came out last. Ahead of them was a river, and above was the bridge that lead to the castle. They were down below in the ravine.

And above them, the sludge was rolling out of the castle and out to the bridge. It dripped over the side.

The servants screamed.

"Run!"

They scattered.

The ooze feel, splattering on the ground. Pieces of the dark liquid flew in every direction. Merida and Sora threw themselves on the ground to avoid getting hit. A servant jumped in front of Elinor, and the black ooze wrapped around him like a rope.

The puddles of ooze began to move, reattaching to each other. As the ooze coalesced, it was pulling all the servants that had been unlucky enough to be touched by it.

Merida reached out and grabbed one of the servant's hands, but the servant struggled, making Merida let go. Another servant pushed Merida back and was caught in her place when his stepped into a small puddle of the black goo.

Sora roared, throwing a fire spell, charing the ooze.

Someone slammed into him, pushing him into the river. Just as Sora splashed into the water, he saw the last remaining servant get caught in the sludge.

"Forget about us," the servant begged, "just run!"

The ooze took him over.

Elinor grabbed Merida's arm. She raced across the river with her daughter and began stumbling up the hill on the other side. Sora threw another light spell at the sludge before he turned and followed Merida and Elinor.

Just as he was over the hill, he crashed into the foliage of the forest. He lay on his back, gasping. Nearby, Merida leaned against a boulder. Elinor hunched over, her fists clutching her tattered emerald skirts.

"Are you guys okay?" Sora panted.

"I will be as soon as I figure out how to destroy that gooey monster," Merida snapped between breaths.

Cracking and snapping crept through the forest. Sora's legs shook. Merida and Elinor's horrified expressions turned into screams.

Long, black tendrils speared through the trees.

"Merida! Look out!"

Elinor pushed her daughter away from the bolder. Merida fell to the ground, and just in time. A tentacle of ooze sliced right through the rock she had just been leaning against. Another tentacle looped through the trees. It caught Eleanor's arm and began to pull.

"No! Mum!"

Merida sent arrows into the black ooze, but her shots simply melted into the sludge. She wrapped her arms about Eleanor's waist and pulled.

Sora ran toward the tentacle and slammed his keyblade against it, but the ooze simply wrapped around his weapon, drawing it in. Sora let go of his keyblade, letting it disappear before it was completely lost. With nothing else to do, he grabbed Merida's waist and tried to help pull Elinor back.

"Merida, let me go."

"No! I won't lose you! Not again!"

"Let go of me. That's an order from your queen!"

"NO!"

Elinor grabbed the tentacle around her arm, but her other hand simply sunk in. The rest of the ooze appeared in the trees. It opened up like an oily mouth, ready to swallow.

Elinor hissed. "I faced a demon bear, I can face this darkness too! You won't take my daughter, do you hear me? Merida, let me go! This is the last time I will ask!"

"No! I will never let go. You've always been there for me! Now it's my turn to be here for you! If we get swallowed, I'm just going to bust my way out of that thing! Sora! Pull harder!"

Sora felt something spark in his chest. It was warm and fluttery. It spread throughout his bones. Power zinged through him. He knew that feeling. And he knew just what to do.

"Merida! Elinor! On the count of three, I want you to concentrate all your bravery on me!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you afraid of that monster, Elinor?"

"No! I will face any demon if it means keeping my family safe!"

Merida spoke through clenched teeth. "Me too."

She looked over her shoulder at Sora and the fierceness in her eyes fueled the fiery power inside him.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it, Sora!"

"Right! Ready? One."

Elinor dug in her heels, struggling harder. "We will defeat it! I know we will!"

Her will slammed into Sora.

"Two!"

"Yer right, mum! As always!"

Merida's spirit was as fiery as her hair. Mother and daughter began to glow, and Sora's keyblade appeared in his hand. The blue and green light of Merida and Elinor's conviction flowed into the weapon. The light was heavy, hard to control and Sora had to grit his teeth to focus on keeping the power in place. His arm pulsed, but still he raised his keyblade and aimed at the tentacle holding Elinor.

The ooze was getting desperate. The black liquid was starting to creep up to Elinor's shoulders.

Just a little more time!

Sora concentrated. His faith pulsed deep in his chest. His body sung with power and screamed with exhaustion at the same time. All of the light, the love and hope the three of them shared gathered in his keyblade.

His arm was shaking, his feet were sliding off the ground.

The ooze gave one powerful pull. Merida and Sora's feet slipped off the ground. They lost the tug of war.

Sora felt the light burning through his entire body.

It was only one second, but his, Merida's and Elinor's hearts were one.

They were falling toward the ooze, but there was no fear inside them. Together, they closed their eyes, and chanted.

"Trinity Limit!"

A scorching blast of blue, red, and green light flew through the air, slamming into the black blob. Like a rope being snapped, the ooze holding Elinor's arm broke.

Merida, Elinor and Sora fell onto the ground. The fall was nothing compared to the aching in Sora's joints. He couldn't remember the last time he held and released so much energy. He could only watch as the spell moved through the ooze, changing it from black to dark purple to light lavender.

Blurry shapes appeared in the sludge, like shadows in swamp water. There was an arm here, a leg there, the shape of a tall, round man, what looked like a duck and some children.

Then he completely forgot about the strange figures in the ooze as the trinity spell exploded and white light washed away everything. The brightness made Sora's eyes swell with tears. The spell drowned out all sound.

Except the whispering in Sora's ear.

He didn't understand the words, but there was a picture in his mind. An island, a redheaded girl in a white room, and a boy in the darkness. The brightness faded, as did the images in his thoughts.

Sora blinked.

Merida and Elinor were still on the ground, dazed.

The ooze was not defeated, but it was completely still. It was smoking, whole sections of it were chipping off like dust. Then, without warning, it stretched. A black hand reached out toward Merida and Elinor.

Sora couldn't stand.

His body was too tired from their last attack.

He wasn't fast enough.

The ooze was inches away from Elinor and Merida.

It stopped.

The shape of a man appeared out of the ooze. A big, round man.

Elinor gasped. "Fergus?"

The shape pulled. Arms and legs swimming through the ooze. A second later, like a man surfacing for air in a dark lake, King Fergus' head appeared.

"Dad!"

Merida began to crawl toward her father.

"Stay away! Run before it gets you too!"

Elinor reached out. "Are all of you trapped in there?"

"Your attack has weakened it, but it's regenerating! I don't know how long I can break free like this! Run!"

Another tendril of the ooze moved. This time, it inched toward Sora. Donald and Goofy erupted out of the blackness. Sora bent his body. He managed to get up onto his hands and knees.

"Hold on! I'll pull you guys out! Just give me a second."

"No," Donald said. "You'll get caught in it!"

He grunted, struggling to pull the rest of his body free. But he was only able to get his arm out. With the last of his strength he raised his staff and bellowed.

"Curaga!"

Energy flowed into Sora, easing his bruises and exhaustion. He was able to stand straight.

"Sora, catch!"

Goofy threw an ether at him. Catching it, Sora moved toward them, but his two friends stopped him with a glare.

"Don't worry about us, pal. We know you can get us free!"

Goofy vanished into the sludge.

"You big palooka!" Donald was sinking backward. Soon only his beak was sticking out. "Don't have a stronger blast of light then that?"

His friends disappeared.

King Fergus growled. He was also being pulled back in. The ooze was beginning to come back to life. Sora saw parts of it twitching, as though it were waking up.

There was no time to waste. Sora chugged down the ether quickly. Magical power surged through his body. He raced toward Merida and Elinor and chanted.

A healing spell sparkled at the end of his keyblade. The green clovers glittered over Merida and Eleanor, bringing color back to their faces.

"Go now! Please," King Fergus begged.

"I got Mum free! I'll get you free too!"

"You can't. The light wasn't strong enough to push all this darkness away."

"Then help us fight it from the inside," Sora said. "While we try to destroy it from out here."

"Just get my family to safety, lad!"

Fergus was gone. Sora grabbed Merida and Elinor's arms. He pulled them into the forest, away form the ooze. Merida resisted.

"I'm not going to leave them behind!"

"My friend gave me a big clue. There is way to push the darkness back and free everyone trapped inside."

"What's your plan?"

"Remember the trap we set? Do you guys have enough energy for another trinity spell?"

Merida winked. "Look who yer talkin' to."

Elinor picked up her skirts, running faster. "I don't know what you two are talking about, but if I know one thing, it's to have faith in you. Lead the way."

They sprinted through the forest. Merida could easily jump over boulders and loop around tree trunks that appeared out of nowhere, but she had to stop frequently to help her mother along. Sora kept up the rear.

It wasn't long before he heard the slimy cracks and snaps from the sludge chasing after them. Sora looked over his shoulder and saw that the sludge was moving faster through the trees.

He sent a blast of light out behind him, but it did nothing to push the sludge back.

"Why do I even try," he huffed. "Merida, how much farther?"

"We're getting close."

"Keep going, get the you-know-what ready! I'll catch up!"

Sora stopped and waved his arms.

"Hey, you! Slime-ball! Over here!"

The sludge threw out an oily black arm at him, and Sora rolled just before it could slam him into the ground. He danced around the sludge, ducking and weaving in and out of its attacks as he moved closer and closer to the ruins.

The trees thinned. Mist appeared around his feet. He was almost there.

The sludge threw out a ropey tentacle at Sora's legs. He jumped up, nearly avoiding getting caught by the ankle. The tentacle moved, angling upward. Sora spread his legs and the tentacle missed his skin by an inch. The second he landed on the ground, he bolted toward the ruins and just barely made it into the center of the trap.

Something slammed into him from behind. Sora took a step forward to catch his balance and then felt a arm loop around his middle. He looked down in horror.

The sludge had caught him. He was tugged back like a fish on a hook. He pushed forward, reaching out. He had been so close!

Merida and Elinor rushed out of the ruins and grabbed his arms.

They pulled.

The sludge was too strong. It reached out and wrapped itself around Elinor and Merida's waist. The trap was getting farther and farther away.

Merida's hands were still free.

Sora had an idea.

"Can you hit the target?"

"In my sleep!"

Sora aimed his keyblade. "Okay. Get an arrow ready!"

Merida twisted, turning her upper half so that her bow and arrow faced the stained glass.

Elinor put a hand on Merida's shoulder. Her other hand squeezed Sora's. Light, bravery, forgiveness, and love flowed through her, connecting Sora and Merida. He felt Merida's stubbornness, her refusal to give up, her cheerful nature. The power of their will was so strong that he nearly feinted, but he forced himself to concentrate, gathering the power within himself and pushing it toward Merida.

The blue, green, and red energy moved from Sora's keyblade to swirl around Merida's arrow. They were closer to the blob of darkness more then ever now. Merida didn't hesitate. She aimed and fired.

The tricolored arrow slammed into the disk.

A rainbow lazer shot out of the glass, hitting all the hidden mirrors in the ruins. The light multiplied. Sora threw out his keyblade, and called all the light to the tip of his weapon. A burning, liquid star of silver power gathered on the keyblade.

He threw his weapon over his shoulder and fired the star at the sludge.

The blast threw Sora, Elinor, and Merida out of the blob's hold and onto the ground. The smell of burned rubber made Sora's choke. He covered his nose with one hand and ducked down into a little ball.

Light flashed again and all Sora, Merida and Elinor could do was cover their eyes and wait for the storm to pass.

An explosion of sound. Then silence.

Slowly, the sounds of the forest returned, and the light faded.

Sora sat up and looked around.

The sludge was melting into the ground, turning from dark purple to blue. As it evaporated the people trapped inside stood up. All the guards, dogs, and horses from Merida's camp reappeared. The servants and soldiers from the castle jumped happily.

"Fergus! Boys!"

Elinor and Merida ran to their family. Merida's triplet brothers gathered around her. One of them gave her a noogie, another hugged her leg, and the last brother jumped into her arms. Merida's father gathered up his wife, daughter and sons.

"Now that's how it's done! My girls! So brave!"

Sora's cheeks were hurting from smiling so much. He stood up, only to be knocked back onto the ground when Donald and Goofy tackled him. He hugged his friends tight. Relief warmed his heart.

"I missed you guys so much!"

There was an eruption of laughter and cheers from the people. Sora, Donald and Goofy held hands, jumping up and down in a circle. Even Jiminy hoped from one head to the other, whooping.

Suddenly the crowd gasped.

Swords were freed from their scabbards.

"Stand down," came Merida's voice.

The guards stilled, but didn't put away their swords. Sora followed their line of sight.

The Riku look-a-like was walking through the crowd. It came to stand in front of Sora and nodded approvingly. There was a whisper.

"Thank you."

The look-a-like changed shape, turning back into a tiny wisp. It floated around the people and over the lifeless, tiny puddles of blue goo that still remained on the floor. The goo rose up from the grass. The people all held their breaths, but it wasn't a blob of darkness that appeared.

All the puddles of goo turned into wisps. They gathered together, lined up into the shape of a heart and flickered away, finally free of the darkness that had taken them over.

* * *

_"You're stupid."_

Yeah. He really had been.

_"Sooner or later, they'll swallow your heart."_

Is that what had happened? Is that where he was? In the belly of a heartless, trapped, never to escape? Alone? Is that what he deserved after betraying his friends? After letting someone else's dark heart take over his own?

"Riku? Can you hear me?"

The words were muffled, speaking to him from far above, but he was too deep in the depths of darkness to understand them. The darkness pressed on his eyelids, but something inside him resisted the temptation of sleep. Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared into the black ocean he was drowning in. He couldn't see the surface, there was no light to tell him which direction he was even looking.

"Please wake up."

It hurt to blink. Chalky, dust rested on his cheeks and lashes. If only he could just close his eyes and not feel the pain anymore.

_Yes. Stay asleep._

He jolted. That voice again. The one that whispered deep from within his heart, a scar left from all of his bad choices, a trap he was quickly falling back into.

"No. I'm not turning to you. Never again."

_So you say. You woke up before, and yet here you are again._

"Shut up!"

He struggled against the darkness, swimming through it, searching for some light to guide him back to the world of wakefulness.

_You came back to the darkness. You're addicted._

Riku shook his head but the voice echoed louder, from every direction, filling his thoughts with the oily pollution of despair. His heart seized, fighting back, even as the terror threatened to choke him.

_Afraid? Just give in. It's easier._

"I won't."

_Why fight? You're alone._

"No he's not!"

Sweet, warm air sliced through the darkness. It swirled around Riku, lighting his body, clearing away the sand from his eyes and watering the shriveled parts of his heart. The breeze moved upward. Riku swam after it.

The darkness around him trembled. Hands appeared out of the void, reaching toward Riku's legs. The breeze of light converged on Riku, shielding him in a protective sphere. The hands recoiled, long, pointy fingers curling in anger.

It was time to move. Riku chased the light. He felt the darkness' hold on him melt away. He reached out and grabbed the tiny star above him.

He opened his eyes, truly awake once again.

The world was blurry and whatever was under his back was hard and cold, but something warm was holding his hand.

"You're up! Gosh! What a relief!"

Riku squeezed the hand holding his.

"King Mickey? Is that you?"

He sat up. When he tried to take a look around, everything around him was melted together, like an painting that gotten drenched in water.

He covered his eyes. "Ow!"

"Oh! Hold on."

Something touched his chest.

"Curaga!"

Warmth tingled on his skin, pushing away the pounding headache and the confusion. But the world around him was still melting.

"What's going on? How come everything looks like its underwater?"

Mickey put a hand on Riku's shoulder.

"Rest for a little bit. You took a bad hit from those heartless earlier."

Riku lay back down. He placed his arm behind his head and took in a few long, deep breaths to try and calm down his frantic heart.

"What happened to me?"

"Once the realm of darkness was sealed off, we had to beat all the heartless that had gathered behind the door. I lost you in the fight."

"How did you find me? This place is huge."

"Yup. But for a moment there, I felt a strong light in the realm of darkness. I followed the light, and it led me to you, and just in time. You were falling with a lot of heartless. I caught you and fought off the heartless, but you were unconscious for a while. I was really worried."

Riku rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah, I remember now. Those heartless just kept coming. They caught me off guard."

"Without a keyblade, they can't be fully defeated."

"Why?"

"Because only a keyblade can release the heart from the darkness. It's a really dangerous place here. We should be careful not to get separated again."

If he hadn't given into the darkness, Riku wondered, would the keyblade have chosen Sora over him? Riku grit his teeth. No! None of that mattered anymore. He couldn't spend his whole life feeling jealous and doubting everything around him. That was had gotten him in the realm of darkness in the first place!

Riku wobbled to his feet.

"Wait! You're not fully recovered yet."

The realm of darkness was one big blob of black and grey, but Riku took a step. He could feel the darkness all around him, but for once he didn't feel alone. His heart was much more at ease with King Mickey standing next to him.

"I'll be okay. Besides, we can't stay here too long. We need to find a way out of here."

"Okay. But take it easy."

"Thanks Your Majesty. Say, do you think you can teach me that healing spell you did earlier?"

* * *

The DunBroch family threw one heck of a party. Donald and Goofy stuffed their faces with feast food, challenged Hubert, Hamish and Harris to a jelly tart eating contest (the triplets won) and then took a nap while Sora and Merida retold their story to the servants and guards.

Everyone danced and drank until sundown when Elinor officially thanked Sora, Donald and Goofy for their bravery. Fergus gave Sora a hug that nearly cracked the boy's spine, and then sent them off.

Merida and Angus escorted the trio back to the stone circle where they had met. Once there, she gave Sora one of her patented thumps on the arm.

"I don't think I've ever had an adventure like that! I hope you come to visit again soon."

She raised her arm and Sora bumped his fist with hers.

"Thanks for everything, Merida. I'm glad I helped you find your family."

"And I'm glad you found yer friends. I hope you find Riku too. Seek me out if you want someone to rumble with."

Merida shoved a parcel and a letter into Sora's hands.

"A thank you gift from my family. Bye lads!"

Merida and Angus galloped away. When they was gone, Donald snatched the parcel out of Sora's hands, leaving only the letter behind. While Donald greedily opened the parcel, Sora undid the wax seal on the envelope.

Instead was a small pendant made of green, blue, and red glass. Sora recognized it. It was a piece of the stained glass that Elinor had given Merida. There was a little note attached.

"In case you ever need help finding light within the darkness."

Light within the darkness, Sora thought. Like the people inside the corrupted will-o-the-wisps. A light at the end of the tunnel, like the story Kairi's grandma had once told her.

Something sparkled. One of the stones in the circle glowed like a sunset. Then the old writing and harsh surface of the rock faded away, and a golden keyhole appeared. Sora raised his keyblade. Light passed through the key into the keyhole, sealing the world.

A smooth whisper fluttered through the forest. A will-o-the-wisp appeared at the base of the pillar. It danced, then fading away.

After a moment, the trio moved back to where the castle door had been. Sora hoped that the door had returned. Goofy led the way back while Sora walked along with Donald, eating a fruit tart from the parcel that Merida had given him.

"This really was an interesting world," Sora said.

"What do you mean?" Donald asked through a mouthful of raspberry jelly.

"There were no heartless here. I wonder why?"

Goofy tapped a finger on his chin. "Say, weren't there no heartless in Tarzan's world when we first visited there too?"

"There may not have been heartless here, yet darkness was able to seep through and affect the willow-the-wisps."

"That must be why the wisps took on Riku's shape. They must have been tryin' ta get your attention so that you could help them."

Sora lost his appetite. He lowered his fruit tart and stared at Donald and Goofy's backs. "I never got to apologize to you guys."

His friends turned around to pin him with a questioning stare.

"What for?"

"I saw Riku, and I ran after him without thinking. I shouldn't have left you behind. You're my friends too. If I had been there when those corrupted wisps had attacked, I could've helped you guys."

Goofy patted Sora's shoulder. "Aw, you don't need ta be sorry. It was actually a good thing you didn't get caught like we did. Otherwise you couldn't have saved us."

"But I left you guys behind. I never should have done that. Friends stick together."

"You were only chasing after someone you care about, right? If it were us and we saw the King, I'm sure we would have been too excited to wait for others too."

Somehow, his speech made Sora feel even worse.

Donald tapped his foot on the ground. "It's okay this time, but next time, talk to us."

Sora bowed his head. "Yeah."

Jiminy spoke on Sora's ear. "Don't be so down. They're both right. It's okay to worry about your friends, but don't leave others behind. Though, this time, it kind of worked out for the better."

Sora put his hand on his shoulder and felt Jiminy jump into his palm. He held the cricket out in front of him so that they could be face to face.

"It's just that, what if I never find Riku? After everything that happened here, seeing how just a little bit of darkness was able cause so much havoc, I can't help but feel that Jasmine was right. If we keep going, there's a chance that we can find an entrance to the realm of darkness. I don't know if we should continue. Imagine what could happen if more darkness got out."

The friends grew silent as the shadows of the forest around them transformed from green, to orange, and then slowly into the dark blue hues of the night. The sun had set.

Finally, Donald spoke.

"So what do we do if we don't find the king, or if we don't keep going through that door? Are we just going to stay stuck inside the castle?"

"And what about Locke," Jiminy added.

Goofy raised his hand. "Hey, why don't we try talking about this stuff back at the castle. It's getting dark out here."

"Will the castle door even be there?"

Donald gave Sora a suspicious look. "What do you mean? Of course it will be there."

"After you guys disappeared, I came back here to see if you had gone back to Castle Oblivion without me."

Goofy ducked his head apologetically. "Aw, we wouldn't do that."

"I know. Don't worry. Anyway, when I came to find the door, it was gone."

Donald's eyes got wide. "Does that mean we're stranded here?"

"Well, fellars, why don't we go check and see if the door's come back first?"

Goofy's optimism won out. The castle door stood eerily luminescent in the surrounding dark forest.

Sora, Donald and Goofy passed through it. Merida's world faded away, to be replaced by the white interior of Castle Oblivion. But something was wrong.

Locke was gone.

* * *

_**Jiminy's Journal** _

Mary Poppins (First Appeared in Mary Poppins, 1964): A mysterious yet lovely nanny with a wide range of magical powers. She has an uncanny ability to make children behave and pay attention. She has hired herself to be Kairi's magic instructor.

Mickey Mouse (First Appeared in Steamboat Willie, 1928): Although he is the king of Disney Castle, as a keyblade master, Mickey also has responsibilities outside of his world. He's no stranger to adventure and doing the right thing. He vanished with Riku after the door to Kingdom Hearts was closed. Now that he and Riku are reunited, can the two of them work together to find a way out of the realm of darkness?


End file.
